Annabel Croft, a BBC pundit and former British number one, criticised some of the more partisan fans at Queen's as Emma Raducanu was beaten by Donna Vekic in a dramatic final. Raducanu declared herself 'back and better' after winning two games on Saturday to reach her first grass-court final. However, a long-awaited title continued to evade the British number one, who was defeated 6-0 7-6 by Croatia's Vekic in a turbulent match.
First Set Struggles
Raducanu looked set to be on the receiving end of an embarrassing scoreline as Vekic took the first set without dropping a game in a little over half an hour. The former US Open champion appeared increasingly rattled during the opening set, at one point clashing with her coaching team and urging them to be more vocal between points.
Fan Behaviour Criticised
Croft was unhappy with some of the noise between points as fans in the Andy Murray Arena tried to support Raducanu. Some fans, desperate to support a struggling Raducanu, cheered when Vekic served a double-fault early on, with similar reactions heard when the 29-year-old made unforced errors.
'Well I'm not sure they should be clapping the double fault,' Croft said on BBC's coverage before adding: 'That's a bit overenthusiastic.' At one point in the second set, a loud yell rang out in response to what looked to be a Raducanu winner, but Vekic returned the ball. 'A bit of an overenthusiastic crowd member thought the point was over before it was there,' Croft said. 'I'm not sure if that came from Raducanu's camp, I don't think so.'
More to Follow
Stay tuned for further updates on this story. For more tennis coverage, check out related articles on Wimbledon preparations and Naomi Osaka's fashion choices.
