Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter’s infectious chemistry sparked a day of both jubilation and frustration at Queen’s
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oments before Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter walked on to court one to add a touch of pizzazz to a historic day at Queen’s Club, a lady carrying an empty Pimm’s jug went to go for a refill. “I’m sorry but if you leave, we won’t be able to let you straight back in,” she was told by a steward. “You will have to queue.”
The woman thought for a moment, looked at the packed stands, and returned to her seat. It turned out to be a wise decision. And not just because the queue to see the British pair – or “Boultercanu” as the press had already anointed them – was snaking halfway around Queen’s Club.
For when the action began, Raducanu and Boulter proved to be an instant sensation as they walloped the doubles pair of China’s Jiang Xinyu and Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien 6-4, 6-2. But it was not only the quality of their play in their first match together that stood out. There were also plenty of laughs, high fives and jokes, which continued at the press conference afterwards.
