EMMA RADUCANU and Katie Boulter bowed out in the quarter-finals of the doubles at Queen’s after falling 6-2 7-5 to Ukranian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Erin Routliffe of New Zealand.

The duo, who have been bestowed the portmanteau ”Boultercanu,” earlier this week described the “spontaneous” nature of their decision to pair up ahead of this tournament.

After booking their place with a straight-sets opening victory over Wu Fang-Hsien and Jiang Xinyu on Monday, they faced a much tougher test in the top-seeded doubles pair.

It was a third-ever doubles match for 2021 US Open champion Raducanu, who at one point clashed racquets with British number one Boulter as they played together for just the second time.

On Tuesday, Raducanu overcame early nerves to open her grass court singles season with an emphatic 6-1 6-2 victory over Spanish qualifier Cristina Bucsa and book her place in the second round at Queen’s.

And Boulter battled through opener to claim a 7-6 (4) 1-6 6-4 victory over Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic.