Busy weekend in prospect for Emma Raducanu as Nottingham quarter-final delayed by rain

Emma Raducanu had looked strong so far this week and shown glimpses of her best form in Nottingham, but not even she could deal an ace at the weather which prevented any play in her quarter-final against Francesca Jones.

The rain played havoc all day in the East Midlands with the earlier match on Centre Court – Katie Boulter’s 6-2, 6-4 win over 6-2, 6-4  over Poland’s Magdalena Frech – interrupted by the heavens.

And no sooner had Raducanu and Jones looked set to get their last-eight clash under way, than the heavens opened once again. The forecast didn’t look great, but the British pair did get out on court once again and managed to warm up. However, Mother Nature was clearly against them as they didn’t even get the match started before rain again began to fall.

That means that if Raducanu is to beat Jones and set up a semi-final against Boulter, she’ll have to do it the hard way, by playing two matches on Saturday.

Earlier, Boulter looked impressive as she beat Frech in straight sets. But the defending champion admitted the rain was causing some problems with the players’ mindsets.

“The first set I thought there was some really good tennis from me, some of the best I’ve played,” the British No.1 said after the win.

“I’m slowly building some momentum. I’m just really happy to get through today. I can see a rain cloud coming so I just wanted to finish it off as quickly as possible. I can’t do any more rain delays.”

Rain prevents play in Raducanu vs Jones quarter-final – as it happened