Emma Raducanu Admits She Deserves to Celebrate Despite Finishing as Runner-Up at Queen’s Championship

Emma Raducanu left the Queen’s Club Championships without a title after losing to Donna Vekic in the final. The Championship match was Raducanu’s second of the season as she continues to chase her second career tour-level title and first since winning the 2021 US Open in New York.

Raducanu last reached a tournament final at the Transylvania Open but lost the title to Sorana Cirstea in straight sets. Since then, she has lacked consistent results on the court and has played in just three tournaments since April before heading to London for the Queen’s Club Championships.

The British No.1 had a brilliant run from the first round of the WTA 500 tournament, earning her revenge against Cirstea and then smashing Iva Jovic 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-finals. However, in the final against Vekic, she failed to show her usual confidence in her game, making uncharacteristic mistakes that the Croatian star made sure to claim the free points.

In 29 minutes, Vekic bageled the World No.31 and was running away with the title. Raducanu was heard voicing her frustration to her box as she felt confused as to what to do. However, in the second set, Raducanu reacted by breaking the 29-year-old early and was running away with a 5-2 lead before Vekic then rallied back into the match.

Vekic won four consecutive games before Raducanu forced the match into a tiebreak and that was enough for the Croatian star to win the match 6-0, 7-6(6), claiming her fifth WTA title and second on grass at the Queen’s Championship. Despite the loss, Raducanu admitted that she would celebrate her run at the tournament:

The performances I had this week, I played really well. I was able to play and dictate, and that’s something I wasn’t able to do [in the final]. I managed to get myself back into the second set, and I’m proud of how I fought. That’s not something that in the past years I’ve always done, so that’s a positive. This week is something that deserves to be celebrated. It’s a good achievement for me and I’m proud of it.

Vekic’s run at the Queen’s Club Championships was her first championship final since winning the silver medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024. In fact, the last time she played with the kind of level she showed at Queen’s Championship was at the Wimbledon Championship in 2024, where she reached the semi-finals before losing to Jasmine Paolini.

Emma Raducanu withdraws from the Nottingham Open after Queen’s Championships run

Emma Raducanu has made considerable changes to her grass-court schedule following her run at the Queen’s Club Championships. After her first-round exit at the French Open, the British star intended to play at the Nottingham Open this week as she didn’t envisage she was going to reach the final of the Queen’s Championships.

The tournament organizers confirmed on Monday (June 15) that Raducanu has pulled out of the Nottingham Open and will not play her first-round tie against former World No.1 Karolina Pliskova. However, after losing to Donna Vekic on Sunday (June 14), Raducanu admitted she has been dealing niggles:

Yeah, I mean, I have just been dealing with a few niggles over the past few weeks, and of course the load I have had in the last week, it’s been a great problem to have, you know, playing this many matches. And doubling up yesterday, it’s not easy to kind of recover from. So, yeah, grass, these things can happen. You take a few slips.

Raducanu will now take a week’s break from the court as she’s expected to play in next week’s Eastbourne International. However, she’s yet to sign up for the tournament and might need a wildcard to feature at the tournament, which starts a week before the Wimbledon Championship in London.

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