Emma Raducanu breaks rule during Qinwen Zheng delay as boos ring out at Queen’s

Emma Raducanu faced Qinwen Zheng in the quarter-finals at Queen's

Emma Raducanu did something she 'was not meant to do' during a break in play against Qinwen Zheng on Friday. The Brit was kept waiting by her Chinese opponent in the first set of their Queen's quarter-final, and she pushed her luck with the chair umpire by cheekily taking an opportunity to stay sharp. With Zheng 3-2 up and threatening to widen the margin with break point on Raducanu's serve, the Shiyan-born competitor halted the match and returned to her seat to put on a fresh pair of shoes. After standing and waiting for more than a minute, Raducanu smashed a practice serve down the court before Zheng had returned to the baseline. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT

Chair umpires are given a level of discretion over such incidents, but USTA rules state that 'a player should take all warm-up serves before the first serve of the match'. And BBC commentator Annabel Croft was quick to recognise that Raducanu had done something crafty and got away with it. She said: "I don’t know if Raducanu is meant to hit a ball like that. She’s just practiced a serve and normally you’re not meant to do that!" The unusual mid-match interruption was accompanied by a smattering of boos, as Queen's spectators voiced their disapproval at Zheng holding up proceedings. The 22-year-old offered a hand of apology before composing herself, winning a long battle at deuce and then clinching every remaining game in the set to take it 6-2.

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Qinwen Zheng apologised for delaying her clash with Emma Raducanu

There were further interruptions in the second set as the crowd grew restless with Zheng, who looked sheepish as she was forced to halt the game for a third time to tend to an issue with her racket, with the home favourite watching on perplexed. Despite Raducanu holding a commanding lead at one point in the second set, top seed Zheng steadied the ship and fought back to win 6-2 6-4. Raducanu went into Queen's hoping to build some grass-court momentum ahead of Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam. And she got off to a flying start, notching dominant straight-sets over Cristina Bucsa in the first round and Rebecca Sramkova in the second.

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