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World No 125 Katie Boulter is set to officially replace 107th-ranked Emma Raducanu as the new British female No 1 on Monday. This week, several British players had a chance to overtake Raducanu as the top-ranked British player.
After Jodie Burrage lost in the first round of an ITF event in Surbiton and Harriet Dart lost in the round-of-16, Katie Boulter and Katie Swan were left with a shot at making it past Raducanu in the rankings. By reaching the Surbiton semifinal, Boulter ensured she would be ranked ahead of Raducanu on Monday.
But Boulter also needed Swan not to win Surbiton in order to seal the British No 1 spot on Monday. On Sunday, Swan was up by a set in the Surbiton final before Yanina Vickamayer recovered to win in three sets. Had Swan defeated Vickmayer, she would have been ranked ahead of both Raducanu and Boulter in the rankings.
But since Swan lost, it will be Boulter who will be the new British No 1.
Boulter replaces Raducanu
Boulter, who made the Surbiton semifinal last week, successfully defended her semifinal points from last year and ensured she would stay ranked around No 125.
On the other side, Raducanu - who is out due to multiple surgeries - didn't defend the second-round points she earned at the French Open last year. Since Boulter kept her position and Raducanu dropped 20 places, Boulter is moving ahead of Raducanu.
British tennis now has a new top-ranked female player but they are still without a top-100 player. "We can all say 'we haven't got this, we haven't got that', but we are all working towards something and we are all working really hard.
I hope we can continue to focus on the positives. I think it is a fascinating thing, we have got some really good players between 200 and 100, and I think we are all capable of being top 100 players. I think we are going in the right direction, let's just keep it positive," Boulter said this week.