Boulter stuns Rybakina for the biggest win of her career and a first Queen’s semi-final

Englishwoman Katie Boulter claimed the biggest win of her career by ranking on Friday evening, producing some truly lethal hitting in front of her home crowd to edge out Kazakh top seed Elena Rybakina 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 and reach her first Queen’s Club semi-final.

The world No 73, a wild card in the build-up to Wimbledon, had never beaten an opponent ranked as high as Rybakina, the world No 2 and 2022 Wimbledon champion. The victory was the fifth of her career against a top-10 player – and her first since Wimbledon last year.

From a set down against Fernandez to the last four

Boulter’s route through The HSBC Championships had already tested her resolve. She opened by recovering from a set down to edge Canadian No 8 seed Leylah Fernandez (3-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5) in a first-round match stretched across two days by rain, then dismissed Romanian Jaqueline Cristian (6-1, 6-3) to set up the quarter-final. Rybakina arrived having survived a three-setter of her own against German Tatjana Maria (6-7 (4), 7-5, 6-0) in the previous round.

Boulter will face Croatian lucky loser Donna Vekic on Saturday for a place in the final. Vekic, who entered the draw following Marta Kostyuk’s withdrawal, beat former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova (6-4, 4-6, 6-3) in her quarter-final, while Boulter won the pair’s only previous meeting, in San Diego two years ago.