Emma Raducanu won two matches on Saturday to reach her first grass-court final at Queen’s, but fell short against Donna Vekic in Sunday’s championship match, missing the opportunity to claim her first title since her historic 2021 US Open triumph.
Rain delays earlier in the week forced Raducanu to play both her quarterfinal against Kamilla Rakhimova and her semifinal against American teenager Iva Jovic on the same day, leaving her at a disadvantage ahead of the final. The 23-year-old spent two hours and 19 minutes more on court the previous day than Vekic, who needed just 66 minutes to defeat British No. 3 Katie Boulter in her semifinal.
Raducanu struggled in the opening set against Vekic, but showed remarkable resilience in the second, saving three championship points to force a tiebreak. She then erased another match point and came within touching distance of pushing the contest to a deciding set before ultimately falling short, 6-0 7-6(6).
Entering the main draw of the HSBC Championships as a lucky loser following the withdrawal of No. 5 seed Kostyuk due to a right ankle injury, Vekic became the first lucky loser to win a match at this tournament. The Croatian captured the title after defeating Mika Stojsavljevic, Marie Bouzkova, Karolina Pliskova, Katie Boulter, and British No. 1 Raducanu in the final.
This is Vekic’s first WTA 500 title and fifth career title overall. The world No. 76 has long enjoyed success on grass, having also triumphed in Nottingham in 2017, while her best Grand Slam result came on the surface, reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in 2024.
