Boulter may have been seated at the British women’s tennis summit for two years, but with Raducanu looking at somewhere near his best, we could regularly see the two fighting for first place in British women’s tennis.
Boulter is impatiently awaiting the challenge.
“It’s going to be fun for me to chase her now, and I think she has been doing this for a while. Now it’s a bit like my turn,” she said.
“I am very happy for her to be British number one.”
Boulter, who won the title in Nottingham the time last year, had tried to reach a seventh quarter -final on the grass.
There were a lot of positive points to take in a first set which, she said, presented “some of the best tennis of Grass Court” that she played.
She continuously caused problems behind her first service – something she had suggested working in the preparation of this match after the difficulties earlier this week – and had a double break up to take the first set.
But when the referee suspended the game because of a downpour, Boulter dropped a 4-1 break in the second set and in difficulty serving again.
After a rain of 20 minutes, she returned to be broken the second time and, despite the recovery of a break, she could not prevent Shnaider from forcing a decisive whole.
Boulter was again subjected to pressure in the opening match, making three break points to guarantee taking as service problems returned with revenge.
She saved more breaking points in her next service game, only to double and concede the break.
From there, Boulter had trouble gathering and made a double break.
She could not find a way back while Shnaider organized a meeting with the second American seeded and the champion of the Australian Open, Madison Keys.
