Great opportunity for Dart

Harriet Dart wasn’t supposed to be there. Given a wildcard as world No. 160, knocked out in the first round in Birmingham last week by Bartunkova, she nonetheless overturned Samsonova yesterday in two hours and forty-eight minutes in a three-set match that revealed a player capable of staying mentally strong over the long haul on her favorite surface. 73% of service games won against the world No. 35, 72% behind her first serve, and above all this ability to convert 6 breaks out of 22 chances against a strong server: Dart is playing her best tennis on grass in front of her home crowd, and this second round at Queen’s Club is exactly the kind of stage where she can pull off another upset.

On the other side of the net, Rakhimova comes in as a lucky loser after a clear defeat in qualifying against Tatjana, 6–4 6–3, and her stats from that match say everything you need to know about her form on grass: only 50% of service games won, 6 break points saved out of 11, 22% of return games won. The Uzbek arrives without a win this week, with a 2026 record of 41.7% victories across all surfaces and 5.42 double faults per match this season.