By Martyn Herman
LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – Once labelled the new golden girl of tennis after winning the 2021 U.S. Open as a teenaged qualifier, Emma Raducanu’s career has been a tale of injury layoffs, hiring and firing coaches and a struggle to live with the weight of expectation.
On Saturday against new American teenage sensation Iva Jovic, she offered renewed hope of a resurgence ahead of Wimbledon with a clinical 6-2 6-2 victory to reach the Queen’s Club final.
The 23-year-old arrived at the London grasscourt event without a Tour-level win since March.
Now she has reeled off four in a row without dropping a set and will take that momentum into Sunday’s final against Croatia’s vastly-experienced Donna Vekic seeking a first title since her fairytale run in New York.
“It means everything to be doing it here at Queen’s, the support was electric, Raducanu said on court.
“I’ve been able to stick out some tough moments in the last few months. Any Brit would love to lift the title here.”
The 29-year-old Vekic will present a formidable barrier after showing her class in a 6-1 6-3 demolition of Britain’s Katie Boulter in the day’s first semi-final.
Vekic dropped only six points on serve to silence a partisan crowd on Andy Murray Arena as wildcard Boulter could not reproduce the level she reached to stun world number two Elena Rybakina late on Friday evening.
“I have been improving with each match and that’s usually how it goes on grass, the more time you spend on it the better you get,” Vekic, who lost to Jasmine Paolini in Wimbledon’s longest-ever women’s singles semi-final in 2024, said.
“I love this surface, I love this city. I’m really happy.”
British fans enjoying the sunshine and Queen’s Club’s hospitality were treated to a double helping of Raducanu as she was first up for her delayed quarter-final against Uzbekistan’s lucky loser from qualifying Kamilla Rakhimova.
She battled to a 6-3 7-5 win despite a second-set injury scare when she needed attention to her left thigh.
After Boulter’s defeat she then returned to court to face 18-year-old sixth seed Jovic — the youngster who has taken the Tour by storm this year, rising to 19th in the rankings.
Jovic had the advantage of a longer rest, having beaten second seed Amanda Anisimova the previous day.
With Andrew Richardson, the coach she split with almost straight after winning the U.S. Open, once again guiding her, Raducanu imposed her game on the teenager from the start.
Raducanu produced a level of aggression from the baseline that Jovic could not handle.
After jumping into a 4-1 lead she never took her foot off the gas and wrapped up the victory in a hurry to reach only her third career final and first on grass.
Vekic, who actually lost in qualifying but got a lucky loser spot into the draw, has reached her first final since the Paris Olympics in 2024 when she took the silver medal.
She will be seeking a third win this week against a British player after also taking out teenager Mika Stojsavljevic.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Louise Heavens, Clare Fallon and Pritha Sarkar)
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