Emma Raducanu will have to wait for her first WTA title – as opposed to the grand slam she won in 2021 – after coming up short in a thrilling tussle with Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Although Vekic gave her an absolute schooling in a first-set “bagel”, Raducanu found her form in the second set, which turned into an 80-minute barnstormer.
She had chances to force a decider, notably when she held set point at 5-4, and found herself at the net after driving a short ball towards the Vekic backhand.
But Vekic, who started and finished this match in magnificent form, conjured up a perfectly judged backhand lob which curled tantalisingly over Raducanu’s extended racket and dropped a foot inside the baseline.
There was plenty more excitement to come as Raducanu fought off four match points before going down 8-6 in the second-set tie-break. It was an agonisingly close finale but she should still be encouraged by what she has done over the past week.
The result leaves Raducanu with a difficult choice to make about her schedule, however. She now stands in 31st position on the WTA live rankings, one place ahead of Vekic, which – if it can be maintained – would give her a seeding at Wimbledon.
But to be certain of earning that seeding, she might perhaps need to pick up some more points on the remaining grass-court events in Nottingham and Eastbourne. After the heavy workload of the last week, which included two matches on Saturday and the need some strapping on her left thigh after a fall during the quarter-final, she has a ticklish decision in front of her.