For the first time in over 50 years, the Women’ tour returned to The Queen’s Club today as the 2025 HSBC Championships officially begun. We welcomed our five time Champion Andy Murray onto Centre Court to start the day for the official opening of the newly named ‘Andy Murray Arena’. It was brilliant to see Andy back at the Club!
The first match of the day saw the two-time Wimbledon Champion and grass court veteran, Petra Kvitova, take on the draw’s only Brazilian, Beatriz Hadad Maia. It took the Brazilian some time to get into the swing of things – expected when adjusting from the clay to the grass – and Kvitova came out on top in the first set 6-2, with Hadad Maia unable to make the most of any of her 4 break points. The 2nd set was a different story as Kvitova began to struggle on her serve, hitting 4 double faults and winning only 9 points on second serve. Hadad Maia took it 6-4 and then got an early break in the 3rd. After saving 3 break points on her opening service game of the set, the Brazilian lost just 5 points on serve for the remainder of the set. The match finished 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The second match on Centre Court saw the British wildcard, Sonal Kartal, take on Daria Kasatkina in another three set battle. The Brit made a very convincing start, taking the 1st set 6-1. Whilst the 2nd set was a closer contest, with Kasatkina coming out on top 6-3. Into the 3rd, it looked like Kartal was going to struggle after going down a break early on; however, she fought back and went onto win the final set 6-3, securing herself a place in the second round and the biggest win of her career so far (ranking)!
Meanwhile, over on Court 1, it was a dream doubles debut for the British Number 1 & 2, as Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu got off to a winning start against Xinyu Jiang and Fang-Hsien Wu. There was great energy on Court 1 for this one, with the crowd really getting behind the British pairing, making for a fun atmosphere throughout the match. The doubles pairing looked strong from the get go, breaking serve in the first game of the match and never really faltering after that. The match finished 6-4, 6-2.
Back on Centre Court we had another British wildcard, Jodie Burrage, up against the American top 20 player, Amanda Anisimova. Burrage made a good start and won the first set 6-4. The American, perhaps better adjusted to the surface, stepped it up in the second set and showed her quality as the match went on, going onto win it in three - 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
With the first three matches on Centre Court all going to three sets, the final match scheduled for the day was moved over to Court 1. The Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova was up against the Australian Qualifier, Maddison Inglis. A tight first set with no breaks of serve saw Muchova clinch it in a tie break. Following the theme of the day, this one was taken into a third and final set when Inglis came out 6-3 in the 2nd, but due to the fading light, the rest of this matched will be played tomorrow…
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