Donna Vekic overpowers Emma Raducanu to lift Queen's Club title as Wimbledon looms

Emma Raducanu's hopes of a fairytale home title ended in heartbreak on Sunday as Donna Vekic produced a clinical, ruthless performance to win the women's HSBC Championships at Queen's Club, beating the British number one 6-0, 7-6(6) in front of a partisan London crowd.

The Croatian, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2024, needed only 32 minutes to bagel Raducanu in a one-sided opening set before the home favourite roared back, saving three championship points to hold serve and force a tie-break. Vekic, however, kept her nerve to edge the breaker 8-6 and claim her fifth career WTA Tour singles title — and her first since 2023.

It was a cruel reward for a player who had carried the host nation's expectations all week, but Raducanu drew warm applause as she reflected on a run that confirmed her growing confidence on grass with Wimbledon now barely a fortnight away.

A ruthless start that Raducanu could not recover

Vekic was simply too powerful in the opening exchanges, stepping inside the baseline to dictate rallies and giving Raducanu no rhythm whatsoever. The 2021 US Open champion looked tight, sprayed forehands long and was broken three times in a chastening first set that lasted barely half an hour.

To her enormous credit, Raducanu refused to fold. She lifted her first-serve percentage, began to find the corners and pushed Vekic deep into the second set. Serving to stay in the match, she saved three championship points with a mixture of nerve and shot-making that brought the crowd to its feet, before forcing the tie-break that had looked improbable an hour earlier.

“It has been an incredible week for me, making the final here in my home city, at my home tournament. I'll take so much from this into the grass-court season.”

— Emma Raducanu, speaking after the final

In the breaker the margins were tiny, but Vekic produced the bigger serves when it mattered and converted her fourth match point to seal a victory that meant a great deal to a player who has spoken candidly about the physical and mental toll of life on tour.

What the title means to Vekic

Vekic entered the draw as a lucky loser, having lost in qualifying, which made the achievement all the sweeter. The women's event only returned to Queen's Club in recent seasons after decades in which the historic venue staged men's tennis alone, and the Croatian was quick to acknowledge the significance of competing on its lawns.

“Growing up and playing on the tour, I was always jealous of the boys getting to play on this court, at this amazing club. I'm very grateful that since last year we have the opportunity to play here as well.”

— Donna Vekic

The win lifts Vekic's ranking and stamps her as a grass-court contender to watch at the All England Club, where her 2024 semi-final run remains the highlight of her career to date.

A depleted men's draw gets under way

Attention now turns to the men's HSBC Championships, which began on Monday and runs through to 21 June. The field has been hit hard by withdrawals, robbing the tournament of some of its biggest names in the immediate build-up to Wimbledon.

• World number one Carlos Alcaraz, a regular at Queen's, is absent from the grass swing this year
• British number one Jack Draper withdrew after failing to recover from a knee injury sustained at the Barcelona Open in April
• Two-time Grand Slam semi-finalist and former Queen's finalist Lorenzo Musetti also pulled out
• Alex de Minaur heads the seedings, with Jiri Lehecka and home hope Cameron Norrie also in the draw

Norrie, seeded eighth, carries British hopes in the men's event, while de Minaur arrives as the man to beat on a surface that increasingly suits his counter-punching game. The opening rounds will be played across Monday and Tuesday before the draw thins towards the weekend.

Background

Queen's Club has been a fixture of the British grass-court season for more than a century, serving as the traditional warm-up for Wimbledon. The reintroduction of a women's event has given the fortnight fresh momentum, and Raducanu's run to the final — the first by a British woman at the venue in the modern era — generated huge interest at home.

For Raducanu, the defeat is a setback only in the narrowest sense. Reaching a final on grass, beating quality opposition and saving championship points under pressure are all encouraging signs for a player whose career has been disrupted by injury and management upheaval since her stunning New York triumph as a teenager.

What happens next

Both players will now finalise their Wimbledon preparations, with Raducanu likely to feel her grass-court form is trending upwards at exactly the right moment. Vekic, meanwhile, heads to SW19 with a title in the bank and renewed belief. The men's event will crown its champion on 21 June, just nine days before the year's third Grand Slam begins — and with so many leading names absent, the door is open for an unexpected name to seize the spotlight.