LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) - Croatia's Donna Vekic resisted a gutsy fightback by Emma Raducanu in front of a partisan crowd to claim the Queen's Club title with a 6-0 7-6(6) win in a high-quality final on Sunday.
Vekic, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser after defeat in qualifying, needed five match points to finally end Raducanu's resistance and win her first title since 2023.
"I'm off to have Pimms," Vekic said as she signed off her on-court interview on a sunny Andy Murray Arena.
She thoroughly deserved a sip of the traditional summer tipple after a compelling match that was on a knife edge in a second set full of leg-burning baseline rallies.
Raducanu, who reached the final without dropping a set, was given vociferous support throughout but fell just short of landing her first title since her fairytale run at the U.S. Open in 2021 as a teenaged qualifier.
After a frustrating season of illness and injuries, however, she looks rejuvenated just in time for Wimbledon in two weeks, when her run at Queen's means she will likely be seeded, as also will the 29-year-old Vekic who began the week ranked 76th.
Raducanu is now provisionally ranked 31 with Vekic at 32.
"Today was a really tough match. Donna played extremely well from the start to the finish. So thanks for getting me through some tough moments this week and also for helping me push back in that second set," Raducanu told the 9,000-strong crowd.
Vekic had already beaten a British teenager - Mika Stojsavljevic - this week and on Saturday blazed past another home favourite Katie Boulter.
Showing her love for the grass in a city she describes as her second home, Vekic produced a stunning opening set, belting ferocious winners all over the court to leave Raducanu, who had removed tape on her thigh, reeling.
But Raducanu weathered the storm and as Vekic's onslaught began to wane, the British player began swinging more freely to make inroads and forged a double break ahead in the second set.
Vekic got one break back, then saved serve from 0-30 at 3-5, before breaking the Raducanu serve again to level after saving two set points, one with a stunning topspin lob.
Paris Olympic runner-up Vekic then saw three match points go begging as she led 6-5 and, as the match headed towards a tiebreak, both players looked out on their feet.
Raducanu saved another match point in the tiebreak but Vekic earned one more with a superb winner and she finally converted at the fifth attempt as a weary Raducanu sent a groundstroke into the tramlines.
"Winning 6-0 (in a first set) is sometimes a curse in tennis. Emma really stepped up and played some amazing tennis," said Vekic, who is working with her former coach David Felgate. "I just tried to stay with her, make her play it out, stay with every single ball.
"Her last service game and the tiebreak is a bit of a blur."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Chopra and Clare Fallon)
