Katie Boulter Stuns World No.2 Rybakina 7-5 2-6 7-5 β Biggest Win of Her Career, First Queen's Semi-Final
-- reading | Updated:
2-6
7-5
Duration: 2h 39min | Boulter's 5th career top-10 win β biggest by ranking
Katie Boulter (World No. 73) beat top seed Elena Rybakina (World No. 2) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 to reach the HSBC Queen's Club semi-finals for the first time in her career. It is the biggest win of her career by ranking and the best win by a British woman since Johanna Konta defeated Simona Halep at Wimbledon in 2017. She faces Donna Vekic in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Let's give Boulter the credit she's due without hedging. This was not a Rybakina off-day. The Kazakh had just won the Australian Open and was in form. Boulter came out swinging β aggressive, precise, unhesitant β and she won because she was better on the day. That is not a sentence you write often about a wildcard ranked 73rd in the world against the second-best player on the planet.
The key moment was at 4-4 in the deciding set. Boulter, serving, played what her coach will have watched back ten times β three winners and a forced error to hold and put the pressure entirely on Rybakina's serve. Then, at 4-5, she broke. At 6-5, she served it out on her first match point. Rybakina's backhand went into the net. Queen's Club erupted.
Match Analysis β How Boulter Beat Rybakina
Boulter played this match the way you have to play Rybakina if you're going to beat her β fast, flat, and don't let her settle into her serve. Rybakina's serve is the most dangerous in women's tennis. If she gets a rhythm, the game is over. Boulter's return positioning was unusually aggressive, stepping inside the baseline and cutting off the angle.
The second set loss could have derailed her. After dropping it 2-6, a lesser player buckles mentally. Boulter went the other way β broke immediately at the start of the third and never looked back until Rybakina found two breaks to level at 4-4. Then came the moment that defined the match.
Queen's Club 2026 β Today's Semi-Finals (Saturday Jun 13)
| Match | Round | Status |
|---|---|---|
| π¬π§ K. Boulter vs D. Vekic ππ· | Semi-final | Today β Saturday |
| πΊπΈ I. Jovic vs [Raducanu/Rakhimova] | Semi-final | Today β after QF |
| π¬π§ E. Raducanu vs K. Rakhimova π·πΊ | QF β TODAY | First match today |
Emma Raducanu β Also in Action Today
While Boulter's win grabs the headlines, Raducanu's form is equally significant. She beat Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-2 on Friday β her first win over a top-20 player in over a year β and faces Uzbek qualifier Kamilla Rakhimova in the quarter-final this morning. If Raducanu wins, the semi-final could be an all-British affair against Iva Jovic.
What makes Raducanu's run more interesting than it looks: Cirstea had beaten her 6-0 6-2 in February. Raducanu reversed that result aggressively, going for her shots rather than waiting for the errors. That mental shift β back working with former coach Andrew Richardson β is the story underneath the story.
Why This Matters for Wimbledon
Wimbledon starts in two weeks. Both British women are suddenly legitimate stories. Boulter has beaten the world No. 2 on grass, the exact surface where Wimbledon is played. Rybakina won Wimbledon in 2022. Boulter just beat her here. That is not a small thing. Raducanu, if she can reach the semi-finals this weekend, enters Wimbledon with genuine momentum for the first time since her 2021 US Open miracle.
