Category: WTA Nottingham

Katie Boulter beat Emma Raducanu in their all-British Nottingham Open semi-final on Sunday afternoon, 6-7(13) 6-3 6-4.

The first set was a tight one, played out on Saturday afternoon before a rain delay caused the remainder to be delayed until Sunday.

Raducanu had slipped and fallen on Saturday, appearing to hurt her knee on the wet surface before the action was halted.

Despite that setback, she eventually took the set on a tie-break, 15-13, after 80 minutes on the court. Boulter failed to convert three set points before Raducanu finally finished the job.

On Sunday afternoon, with the weather continuing to squall, the pair belatedly returned to the court to resume their intriguing battle.

The players swapped service games until Boulter picked up a crucial break in the seventh game. Raducanu defended three break points but couldn’t pull off the same trick a fourth time and surrendered the advantage.

Boulter made no mistake in the following game, following up on her break with a faultless service game. With Raducanu serving to stay alive in the set, she was forced to defend another break point but still couldn’t stop Boulter converting at the second time of asking.

After 123 minutes on the court, and nearly 24 hours since the match had begun, Boulter and Raducanu headed into a decisive third set. It was no less tightly contested. Boulter threatened an early break but Raducanu defended two break points to hold serve.

Boulter continued to press in the sixth game, forcing a desperate Raducanu to defend three break points. The world No. 209 did so twice, but failed on the third as she once again surrendered a vital lead. At 4-2 up, Boulter could sense victory.

From nowhere, Raducanu found another gear and broke back in the next game to love. The 2021 US Open champion failed to build on her break, though, dropping the following game to go 5-3 down in the final set.

But Raducanu wasn’t going away and she summoned another break right when she needed it. With Raducanu serving to level the match, Boulter once again showed her quality as an excellent forehand finished the match in her favour.

Karolina Pliskova awaits the Brit in the final, with the No. 6 seed having dropped only one set en route and vanquishing Ons Jabeur in an epic quarter-final.

Raducanu had cruised to the semi-final with straight-sets victories in the early rounds over Japan’s Ena Shibahara and Ukraine’s Daria Snigur before a walkover win against fellow Brit Francesca Jones in the quarters.

No. 3 seed Boulter was briefly troubled by Harriet Dart in the first round but saw off Canadian qualifier Rebecca Marino and Polish No. 5 seed Magdalena Frech in the quarter-final.

The 21-year-old has not played since the Madrid Open in April but will make her return this week in Nottingham, continuing her comeback from double wrist and ankle surgery in May 2023.

“It was important for me to take time to transition onto the grass because the balls over the grass season are heavy,” Raducanu said of her withdrawal from Roland-Garros.

She continued: “I feel like the conditions are just getting slower and slower on the grass courts. Especially for myself having had wrist surgeries, I just needed to prioritise the transition.

“I think wrists are always very delicate and I think especially with how the tour is right now, and the fact we have to change balls every single week pretty much, and they don’t regulate the ball.”

Raducanu called for an introduction to uniform tennis balls across the WTA Tour, claiming using different balls throughout the year increased the risk of injury.

“I’m not the only one with wrist issues,” she said. “I’m probably just the one who’s had them most publicly.

“So, I think for me it’s definitely a factor where I have to miss certain events because either the conditions or the balls just don’t favour my situation.

“And it is hard as they are trying to make the points longer and tennis more interesting. But I guess players do get the short end of the stick in that sense and hopefully something can be done about that.”

Raducanu played her first WTA match at the Nottingham Open in 2021, performing well enough to earn a wildcard for Wimbledon, where she reached the fourth round.

Just two months later, Raducanu made history by triumphing at the US Open, becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam.

She has struggled with her form and fitness since, but it is hoped her surgeries last year have rectified this.

“Body-wise, physical-wise, I feel really healthy,” Raducanu said. “I feel really strong. I’ve done amazing work with my trainer over the last few months, since surgery.

“I’m in a really fit place. I think my wrists are actually in a better position than they ever were. So there’s zero doubt or apprehension.”

Raducanu was forced to use a mobility scooter while recovering from surgery, but she now uses the experience to appreciate her time on the court.

“I think it’s very easy for me to lose sight of where I was exactly a year ago because it is pretty much a year ago to this day, this month,” she said.

“You get so caught up in your own world that you want more and more and more.

“But a year ago I was on a scooter scooting around and I didn’t know – there was an element of doubt. To be healthy and to be here, I need to cherish it.”