Boulter stuns Rybakina to reach Queen's Club semifinals

Britain's Katie Boulter shocked world No 2 Elena Rybakina with the most impressive win of her career in the Queen's Club quarterfinals on Friday.

Boulter beat reigning Australian Open champion Rybakina 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 to seal her second victory in the space of a few hours on the grass at the Wimbledon warm-up event.

Boulter had defeated Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 6-1, 6-3 earlier in the day before returning to stun top seed Rybakina in the evening.

The 29-year-old, ranked 73rd in the world, showed no signs of fatigue as she wore down Rybakina, who won Wimbledon in 2022, in a gruelling clash lasting over two and a half hours.

In Saturday's semifinal, Boulter, who was given a wildcard entry into the tournament, will face Croatia's Donna Vekic, a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 winner over Karolina Pliskova in the last eight.

Rybakina was also playing for the second time in the day after ending Tatjana Maria's reign as Queen's champion with a 6-7 (4/7), 7-5, 6-0 win over the German.

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu clinched a place in the quarterfinals for a second successive year with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Romanian seventh seed Sorana Cirstea.

It was a cathartic victory for the British No 1, who lost to Cirstea in the Cluj-Napoca final in February.

"Earlier in the year she beat me, but I'm glad I could get her back at home as well," Raducanu said after her first win against a top-20 ranked opponent in over a year.

"I think I played a really high level. I knew I had to."

Raducanu will play her delayed quarterfinal on Saturday against Uzbekistan's Kamilla Rakhimova, who beat British wildcard Harriet Dart.

The winner of Raducanu's meeting with Rakhimova will play American sixth seed Iva Jovic in the semifinals.

Jovic beat former Wimbledon runner-up Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.