Emma Raducanu on the brink of overtaking Katie Boutler to be British no.1 again in rankings breakthrough
Emma Raducanu is on the brink of becoming the British No.1 again as she reached the Miami Open quarter-finals. Raducanu brushed aside 17th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-1 6-3 in her most dominant victory of the season. Raducanu is on her best run since the US Open in 2021Getty She secured her first last-eight appearance at a WTA 1000 event and is her best run since winning the US Open in 2021. So dominant was Raducanu that she did not drop a point on her own serve in the first set. It means she is already guaranteed to move back into the top-50 in the WTA rankings after the tournament. Should she reach the semi-final in Miami then she will become the British No.1 once again. The extra ranking points would put her on 1397 points, overtaking Katie Boulter’s 1366 – which would also shoot Raducanu up into the top 40 in the world. The 22-year-old lost her status as British No.1 in June 2023 when she was overtaken by Boulter, who has held it ever since. Raducanu’s highest career ranking was at 10 in 2022, which was boosted by the 2000 points received by players for winning a Grand Slam. “I’ve come a long way in the last week, I think, since Indian Wells (where Raducanu lost in the first round),” she told Sky Sports. “I wasn’t necessarily feeling great about my tennis, about everything, but this week I have, yeah, some really good people around me who I trust and who I have fun with off the court as well, and that is extremely important. “When I play my best I am definitely authentic, true to myself and creative. I feel when I am boxed into a regimented way then I am not able to express myself in the same way. So I’m happy with how I realised that this week.” Boulter could be set to lose her British No.1 tagGetty She continued: “I am really proud of how I came through that “Playing Amanda, it is never easy. She has had some amazing wins, top 20, won a Masters this year. “I just knew I had to dig every ball that I could and make it as physical as possible, because I backed myself in that regard. “I was happy with how I moved, how I extended the rallies from the first game, the first points and kind of just got in my opponent’s head.” Raduancu hit the headlines over the last week after abruptly ending her coaching trial with Vladimir Platenik after just two weeks. It was expected the two would be working together for at least a few months, but only lasted 14 days. WTA Live Rankings RankPlayerPoints38 Katie Boulter136639Xinyu Wang129840Olga Danilovic129641Belinda Bencic127842McCartney Kessler127043Peyton Stearns126644Sofia Kenin126345Lulu Sun125346Dayana Yastremska122947Victoria Azarenka122748Emma Raducanu1222 It has been a difficult year so far for the 22-year-old, whose previous partnership with Nick Cavaday ended because of the coach’s ill health. She was then left in tears in a terrifying experience in Dubai when she spotted the presence of a ‘fixated’ man. Platenik told the BBC: “I totally understand Emma, she’s not in an easy position. The world is looking at her after the US Open and everybody is expecting – including herself – what she is going to do next. “So for me it’s absolutely understandable that she’s under a lot of pressure. She told me she was feeling stressed. “There are no hard feelings from my side. She finished the relationship in a fair way, maybe too quickly, but this is tennis, this is sport. We need to respect that. “She was not feeling OK, and that was her decision. I didn’t want to go into deeper communication about that. Raducanu is looking for the eighth coach of her careerGetty “I think the player needs to feel good, and the player needs to make a decision. Sometimes you make a good decision, and sometimes bad.” Raducanu will play American world number four Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals after she beat Marta Kostyuk in straight sets. A possible semi-final with world number two Iga Swiatek would then follow, should the Pole overcome surprise quarter-finalist Alexandra Eala of the Philippines,
Emma Raducanu is on the brink of becoming the British No.1 again as she reached the Miami Open quarter-finals.
Raducanu brushed aside 17th seed Amanda Anisimova 6-1 6-3 in her most dominant victory of the season.
She secured her first last-eight appearance at a WTA 1000 event and is her best run since winning the US Open in 2021.
So dominant was Raducanu that she did not drop a point on her own serve in the first set.
It means she is already guaranteed to move back into the top-50 in the WTA rankings after the tournament.
Should she reach the semi-final in Miami then she will become the British No.1 once again.
The extra ranking points would put her on 1397 points, overtaking Katie Boulter’s 1366 – which would also shoot Raducanu up into the top 40 in the world.
The 22-year-old lost her status as British No.1 in June 2023 when she was overtaken by Boulter, who has held it ever since.
Raducanu’s highest career ranking was at 10 in 2022, which was boosted by the 2000 points received by players for winning a Grand Slam.
“I’ve come a long way in the last week, I think, since Indian Wells (where Raducanu lost in the first round),” she told Sky Sports.
“I wasn’t necessarily feeling great about my tennis, about everything, but this week I have, yeah, some really good people around me who I trust and who I have fun with off the court as well, and that is extremely important.
“When I play my best I am definitely authentic, true to myself and creative. I feel when I am boxed into a regimented way then I am not able to express myself in the same way. So I’m happy with how I realised that this week.”
She continued: “I am really proud of how I came through that
“Playing Amanda, it is never easy. She has had some amazing wins, top 20, won a Masters this year.
“I just knew I had to dig every ball that I could and make it as physical as possible, because I backed myself in that regard.
“I was happy with how I moved, how I extended the rallies from the first game, the first points and kind of just got in my opponent’s head.”
Raduancu hit the headlines over the last week after abruptly ending her coaching trial with Vladimir Platenik after just two weeks.
It was expected the two would be working together for at least a few months, but only lasted 14 days.
WTA Live Rankings
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 38 | Katie Boulter | 1366 |
| 39 | Xinyu Wang | 1298 |
| 40 | Olga Danilovic | 1296 |
| 41 | Belinda Bencic | 1278 |
| 42 | McCartney Kessler | 1270 |
| 43 | Peyton Stearns | 1266 |
| 44 | Sofia Kenin | 1263 |
| 45 | Lulu Sun | 1253 |
| 46 | Dayana Yastremska | 1229 |
| 47 | Victoria Azarenka | 1227 |
| 48 | Emma Raducanu | 1222 |
It has been a difficult year so far for the 22-year-old, whose previous partnership with Nick Cavaday ended because of the coach’s ill health.
She was then left in tears in a terrifying experience in Dubai when she spotted the presence of a ‘fixated’ man.
Platenik told the BBC: “I totally understand Emma, she’s not in an easy position. The world is looking at her after the US Open and everybody is expecting – including herself – what she is going to do next.
“So for me it’s absolutely understandable that she’s under a lot of pressure. She told me she was feeling stressed.
“There are no hard feelings from my side. She finished the relationship in a fair way, maybe too quickly, but this is tennis, this is sport. We need to respect that.
“She was not feeling OK, and that was her decision. I didn’t want to go into deeper communication about that.
“I think the player needs to feel good, and the player needs to make a decision. Sometimes you make a good decision, and sometimes bad.”
Raducanu will play American world number four Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals after she beat Marta Kostyuk in straight sets.
A possible semi-final with world number two Iga Swiatek would then follow, should the Pole overcome surprise quarter-finalist Alexandra Eala of the Philippines,
