Rain wiped out Thursday’s order of play at Queen’s Club, cancelling all matches after players had briefly gone onto court at around 3.30pm and covers were taken off around 5pm before play was stopped and then called off about an hour and a half later.
The tournament account posted: "The London weather was not on our side today 🥺All matches are cancelled for the day. We go again tomorrow ❤️ #HSBCChampionships /vtr3vo1Y5r" The forecast for Friday and the weekend was said to look more encouraging, but organisers have shuffled the schedule: Emma Raducanu’s second-round match with Sorana Cirstea has been moved to second on Friday, and if Raducanu wins she would return late in the day to face the winner of Harriet Dart vs Kamilla Rakhimova. If Katie Boulter and Elena Rybakina each win their second-round matches, they will meet in the quarter-finals late in the afternoon.
The immediate consequence is logistical: winners of Friday’s first matches could be asked back to court later the same day. The day was the first realistic opportunity to clear the backlog caused by Thursday’s washout, but compressing matches into one day raises the chance that a successful player will have to complete two competitive matches on grass within hours.
Raducanu arrives into that squeeze having beaten qualifier Anna Blinkova 6-0, 6-3 on Tuesday; she said after that win she was happy to be "back home" and that, despite a spell of limited match play, she felt she came out playing freely and was enjoying grass and the home crowd. Raducanu and Cirstea last met in early February when Cirstea beat her 6-0, 6-2 in the Transylvania Open final — a result that adds a notable subplot to their scheduled meeting.
The revised order of play leaves uncertainty for several British players and visiting seeds. Raducanu, Boulter and Harriet Dart are all in lines of the draw that could require late returns, while Elena Rybakina — who stands to meet Boulter in a projected quarter-final — is also affected by the packing of matches into Friday. Organisers will have to balance finishing rounds with adequate rest for players, a familiar problem when a single day’s weather wipes out a tournament session.
The friction is clear: Friday is supposed to be the day to catch up, but it could instead force winners into immediate rematches. Whether Raducanu or any other player will actually be required to play twice in one day depends on match results and how closely organisers can stick to the compressed timetable; that decision will only be resolved as results come in on Friday and the order of play is finalised.
What to watch next: check the published Friday order of play early — Raducanu vs Cirstea is listed second — and follow the outcomes of the morning matches. The winners will determine whether the late session swells into two-match days for any player, and whether Boulter and Elena Rybakina’s potential quarter-final will fall into an already crowded late-afternoon window. For context on Rybakina’s schedule and recent form, see Yuliia Starodubtseva faces Elena Rybakina as French Open day four begins (
