Emma Raducanu’s quarterfinal defeat to Zheng Qinwen at the Queen’s Club Championship means there are no Brits left at the tournament going into the final weekend.
The 22-year-old became British No. 1 by booking a place in the quarterfinal but she was no match for the Olympic champion Zheng, who won 6-2, 6-4 on Friday.
In an entertaining battle at the Andy Murray Arena, Zheng showed she could be a worthy contender heading into Wimbledon as she marched into her first semi-final on grass when she converted her fourth match point.
Zheng has won singles titles on clay and hardcourts but she is still adapting to grass, with the 22-year-old showing a marked improvement in her match with Raducanu after she changed her shoes midway through a game when the Briton was serving.
“I want to apologise for my shoes. I didn’t want to fall two times, but I just don’t know how to run on grass,” Zheng said sheepishly.
“I still don’t know when I have to change the grass shoes. I think right now is the time, so it’s the new shoes. I feel much better to run.
“It was a really difficult match for me, especially [because] she has got more experience than me on the grass court. I’m just really happy to get into the semi-final for the first time on grass.”
Zheng and Raducanu were neck-and-neck in the opening set until the Chinese world number five finally broke serve to go 4-2 up.
The home crowd largely favoured Raducanu but Zheng did not waver and she claimed the opening set despite a fall on set point.
Raducanu took a medical timeout for a back issue before the second set and that swung the momentum the Briton’s way as she secured a double break to go 3-0 up.
But Zheng quickly recovered and levelled the set, before going 5-4 up with an overhead smash that kissed the line, with the crowd gasping as one when they watched a replay of the point.
Serving to stay in the match, Raducanu produced a double fault to give Zheng three match points which she saved before the top seed prevailed.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
