• Polish champion beats Raducanu 7-6 (2), 6-3 at Stuttgart Open
• Swiatek will face Elena Rybakina in semi-final

Emma Raducanu’s progress in the Stuttgart Open was halted in straight sets by the world No 1, Iga Swiatek.

The Polish four-time grand slam champion, in her 100th week on top of the world rankings, prevailed 7-6 (2), 6-3 to set up a semi-final with Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina. It was, however, an encouraging quarter-final performance from Raducanu, who has slipped to 303 in the rankings after a torrid 2023.

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• Spaniard ran out of steam against Australian in Barcelona
• The 37-year-old 22-time slam winner went down 7-5, 6-1

Rafael Nadal’s comeback effort ended on Wednesday with a second-round loss to the No 4 seed Alex de Minaur at the Barcelona Open.

Competing for the first time since early January, Nadal began his Spanish homecoming on Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-3 win against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli .

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• The 36-year-old Scot has been struggling with injury
• Former US Open champion may need a wild-card entry

Andy Murray has been included in the entry list for next month’s French Open but Emma Raducanu, fresh from her success in Great Britain’s qualification for the Billie Jean King Cup finals, may yet need a wild card for Roland Garrros.

The 36-year-old Murray has been struggling with injury since he was forced to withdraw from last year’s French Open and he ruptured ankle ligaments at the Miami Open last month. But the former Wimbledon champion is listed at 56 in the 99 players named with five weeks to go before the qualifying rounds begin.

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• 37-year-old beats Cobolli 6-2, 6-3 in first match since January
• ‘I’m just having fun and happy to start with a victory’

Rafael Nadal made a winning return to the court with victory over Flavio Cobolli in the first round of the Barcelona Open.

The 37-year-old was playing his second tournament in 15 months after suffering another injury problem in his hip at his comeback event in Brisbane in January.

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• New tournament would take place week before men’s event
• LTA confident quality of grass courts makes two events viable

The Lawn Tennis Association is in discussions to bring women’s tennis back to the Queen’s Club in Barons Court, west London, for the first time since 1973 with a new high-profile event at the beginning of the grass-court season.

A new women’s tournament at Queen’s would take place a week before the men’s event begins and a week after Roland Garros. Since Queen’s is a relatively small club, it has neither a sufficient number of courts or space in its clubhouse to accommodate the number of players that would be on-site for a joint men’s and women’s event in the same week.

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• Greek player rolls to 6-1, 6-4 triumph for first trophy of 2024
• Carlos Alcaraz forced out of next week’s Barcelona Open

Stefanos Tsitsipas made short work of Norwegian eighth seed Casper Ruud as he seized a third Monte Carlo Masters title in four years with a 6-1, 6-4 victory on Sunday.

Tsitsipas dominated proceedings against fellow 25-year-old Ruud from the onset, cruising through six consecutive games to wrap up the opening set in 36 minutes.

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• Wins over Garcia and Parry give Briton a springboard
• Raducanu ‘really enjoying’ time playing on clay courts

Emma Raducanu believes that she is playing some of the best tennis of her career and wants to build on the momentum from her leading role in Great Britain’s qualification for the Billie Jean King Cup finals to re-establish herself at the top of the sport.

“My last [BJK] Cup tie was in Czech two years ago,” said Raducanu. “It’s great to see how far I’ve come on a lot of notes, tennis-wise. I’ve for sure improved. I feel like I’m playing some of the best tennis of my career and my life so I’m very pleased with that. And emotionally, mentally, for me to come through the moments that I did the last few days, it took a lot of strong character, especially when the entire stadium is pretty much against you. I can just take a lot of positivity and I really enjoyed this week.”

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• Briton seals 3-1 win with 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (1) victory over Diane Parry
• Earlier Katie Boulter put GB 2-1 ahead with 7-5, 6-0 win

As they faced off against a quality French team on unfamiliar soil, each member of Great Britain’s team made no secret of their underdog status and the significant challenge ahead to qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup. Their inferiority on paper was only reinforced early on as they found themselves on the brink of a 2-0 deficit they may have struggled to overturn.

But over the past two days, Emma Raducanu has risen to this lofty occasion spectacularly, producing some of her very best tennis to lead Great Britain into the Billie Jean King Cup Finals with two brilliant victories in a spectacular 3-1 upset of France.

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• British player had been 3-6, 0-2 down against world No 23
• France’s Diane Parry earlier thrashed Katie Boulter 6-2, 6-0

Returning to the top level of professional tennis after a lengthy injury layoff and trying to rediscover confidence and rhythm is difficult under the best circumstances. For Emma Raducanu, whose career to date has been utterly devoid of rhythm and order, it has been an even greater challenge.

Under the pressure of representing her country and herself, though, Raducanu took a huge step forward in both her return and her development as she produced her best performance over the year to defeat Caroline Garcia, the world No 23, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

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