New British No 1 Katie Boulter’s winning run ends at Rothesay Classic in Birmingham
Katie Boulter’s winning run ended with defeat by China’s Zhu Lin in the first round of the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham.
Boulter celebrated the best achievement of her career in Nottingham on Sunday when she won her first WTA Tour title to reach a new highest ranking of 77.
It cemented her position as British number one in the absence of the injured Emma Raducanu, but Boulter was unable to back it up at Egbaston Priory, where she made the quarter-finals last year.
Boulter certainly had her chances against Zhu, ranked 39, but she was unable to convert enough of them in a 7-5 7-5 defeat.
Boulter began well, opening up a 3-1 lead, but Zhu responded strongly and took her second set point in the 12th game.
The second set was a rollercoaster featuring seven breaks of serve and 17 break points.
Boulter was only able to take three of her 10 opportunities, though, and – after saving two match points at 4-5 – she sent a backhand long on the third, two games later.
Play did not get under way until 1.30pm because of rain, with second seed Jelena Ostapenko battling to a three-set win over Czech teenager Linda Noskova in the opening match.
Ostapenko goes on to face Venus Williams in the next round after the veteran American outlasted Camila Giorgi in a controversy-filled encounter.
“She’s a great champion and it’s amazing to share the court with her,” Ostapenko said of Williams.
“I have nothing to lose, so I will just try to play my best.”
The Latvian is happy to be back on grass, a surface she counts among her favourites.
“I’m finally back on one of my favorite surfaces!” said Ostapenko in her on-court interview.
She had a tough time in her efforts to subdue the young Czech opponent.
“It was not an easy first round, she plays really well,” Ostapenko said. “The second set was very close — it didn’t go my way and I couldn’t make it 6-6, but I think in the third set I was mentally strong and played my game.”
In other action on Tuesday, Poland’s Magdelena Frech also proved too strong for Czech veteran Barbora Strýcová.
Frech powered to victory behind a highly-accurate first serve, Strycova belted seven aces to the Pole’s two but she also double-faulted four time to just one from her foe. Strycova won a higher-percentage of first-serve points but only managed to land her first delivery 38 times from 65 attempts.
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