Kartal overpowered by Anisimova in Queen’s last 16

Britain’s Sonay Kartal missed the chance to reach a home quarter-final when she suffered a tough defeat by American Amanda Anisimova at Queen’s.

World number 50 Kartal was overpowered by the eighth seed in just one hour and five minutes, losing 6-1 6-3.

Kartal had secured the biggest win of her career on Monday against world number 16 Daria Kasatkina.

But a third win over a top-20 player in her career – and a second in the west London tournament – proved a bridge too far.

Anisimova will not have won over much of the British crowd so far at Queen’s with victory over Jodie Burrage in the first round and now Kartal.

She faces compatriot Emma Navarro in the last eight after the third seed beat Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 earlier on Wednesday.

Earlier, Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter’s crowd-pleasing doubles partnership came to an end after two matches with defeat in the quarter-finals.

The Britons lost 6-2 7-5 to top seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe in front of a packed court one at Queen’s, which is hosting a women’s event for the first time in 52 years.

‘Boultucanu’ doubles run ends

Boulter and Raducanu’s short-lived but highly popular doubles partnership at Queen’s concluded with a somewhat expected but still disappointing defeat by Ukraine’s Kichenok and New Zealand’s Routliffe, who have won three Grand Slam doubles titles between them.

The pair raced to a 4-1 lead before taking the set with another break three games later.

Fans were offered a glimmer of hope in the second set when Raducanu and Boulter came from 4-1 down to level at 4-4 but they squandered their best chance to turn the match around when they failed to convert four break points in the following game.

Despite saving three match points three games later, they succumbed to defeat.

Attention now switches to their respective singles campaigns where their results this week could affect who is British number one come next week.

Raducanu can replace Boulter in top spot, which she has held since 2023 when Raducanu slipped down the rankings following injury and inconsistent form, if she equals her results at Queen’s.

Raducanu faces Rebecca Sramkova in the last 16 of the singles on Thursday and Boulter takes on fifth seed Diana Shnaider.