Emma Raducanu and British No.1 Katie Boulter were competing in the women’s doubles at Queen’s on Wednesday – but their quarter-final showdown was not broadcast on the BBC
Furious viewers have taken aim at the BBC on social media after they were unable to watch a doubles match featuring Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter at Queen’s, with an old episode of Bargain Hunt airing instead.
The Brits met Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe in a doubles quarter-final match at Queen’s on Wednesday, just two days after frustrated viewers made their feelings clear at the fact that their opening triumph over Wu Fang-hsien and Jiang Xinyu was not available to watch.
Despite that backlash, their latest match also failed to make the airwaves with BBC One showing a two-year-old episode of Homes Under The Hammer, which was followed by a repeat of Bargain Hunt.
Coverage of the match was available on the Tennis Channel, albeit without commentary, but was not present on BBC iPlayer until the latter stages of the second set.
Raducanu and Boulter were beaten in straight sets by their opponents, who triumphed 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles.
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Questions had already been raised over the coverage of Queen’s on the BBC; the corporation broadcast British No.3 Sonay Kartal’s victory in the singles against Daria Kasatkina on Monday instead of Raducanu and Boulter’s ventures in the doubles.
The Lawn Tennis Association could not move the British duo’s match on Wednesday to the main court due to contractual obligations with the Women’s Tennis Association, which requires four singles matches to be shown on Centre Court for international broadcast rights reasons. That meant there was no scope for a doubles match to be moved across, despite the sizeable interest.
Both Raducanu and Boulter are still alive in the singles competition with the former set to face Rebecca Sramkova in a last 16 clash on Thursday. Boulter will play the fifth seed, Diana Shnaider, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Raducanu will surpass Boulter and reclaim the British No.1 spot if she equals the 28-year-old’s performance at the competition.
Boulter has been British No.1 for two years after Raducanu slipped down the rankings.
Queen’s is hosting a women’s tournament for the first time in over half a century this week as the likes of Raducanu and Boulter gear up for Wimbledon, which gets underway next month.