SportsOrbit

Sonay Kartal of Britain missed out on a home quarter-final after losing to American Amanda Anisimova in a tight match at Queen’s. World number 50 Kartal was defeated by the eighth seed in just one hour and five minutes, 6-1 6-3. Kartal won the greatest match of her career on Monday, defeating world number 16 Daria Kasatkina. However, a third win over a top-20 player in her career, as well as a second in the west London competition, proved to be too much. Anisimova will not have won over many British fans at Queen’s with her first-round victory over Jodie Burrage and now wildcard Kartal. Anisimova will face compatriot Emma Navarro in the last eight after defeating Beatriz Haddad Maia 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 earlier on Wednesday. Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter’s popular doubles partnership came to an end after two matches, losing in the quarterfinals. The Britons were defeated 6-2, 7-5 by top seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe in front of a crowded court one at Queen’s, which is holding a women’s event for the first time in 52 years. Positive British camp’spurs’ players are on Kartal was playing outside of the world’s top 250 this time last year, but she now routinely appears at the biggest tournaments after strong performances at Wimbledon and Indian Wells, as well as her first Tour championship in Monastir. At Queen’s this week, the 23-year-old had already made a good start, but against Anisimova, she hardly had time to take in her surroundings before being broken twice. Kartal struggled to deal with Anisimova’s powerful groundstrokes and pinpoint accurate shots to the corners of the court, and the first set was over in 26 minutes. The spectators, exhausted from a marathon match between Navarro and Haddad Maia that lasted over three hours in the London heat, had little to cheer in the first set but encouraged their local player when she broke in the first game of the second. But the American immediately responded, putting the match back on serve, before Anisimova regained control with a superb forehand slice. Kartal responded quickly and broke back at the first opportunity, but Anisimova broke serve again, and Kartal was unable to recover. Despite feeling “disappointed” by the setback, Kartal said she may draw heart from a significant first-round victory. “I’ve still had a great win, probably one of my best matches,” she told the crowd. “I’ll take that one. I feel like I’m still playing well on the grass, so I’ll try to carry as much confidence as possible into next week. Her emphasis will shift to the following few weeks, when she will compete in Nottingham and Eastbourne before Wimbledon begins on June 30. The positivity around the British ladies at Queen’s is palpable, with Kartal, Boulter, and Raducanu all ranked in the top 50, which can only auger well for the run-up to Wimbledon.