Katie Boulter handed stinging Indian Wells defeat after she sets ambitious rankings aim
Katie Boulter set out some lavish ambitions ahead of her first match at the WTA 1000 event at Indian Wells, yet her momentum came to a shuddering halt after a comprehensive first round defeat against Italy’s Camila Giorgi.
Boulter arrived at the tournament riding a crest of a wave after she secured a maiden WTA 500 title at the San Diego Open to continue her excellent 2024.
It earned the British number one a new career-best ranking of 27, but her momentum was checked after a 6-3 6-2 loss in quick fashion to Italian opponent Giorgi.
Giorgi entered this match in poor form and early breaks were exchanged between the duo before the first set went the way of the 32-year-old in 40 minutes.
After Giorgi claimed a decisive second break to edge the opener 6-3, two early breaks handed her the initiative at the start of the next set.
Boulter did finally get off the mark to make it 4-1 but there was no way back and she exited after a 78-minute loss.
Her rapid exit came after she outlined her ambitions in an upbeat interview with Sky Sports, as she suggested her rise to No 17 in the WTA rankings is not the limit of her ambitions.
“There are a lot of emotions,” said Boulter ahead of her match with Giorgi.
“I have parked what happened last week. I will have a lovely dinner with my team at some point, but I’ve parked it for now and I’m getting ready for what comes next.
“This time last year I was ranked 151 in the world. Coming into this year, I wanted to push on a see how far I could get to, which is the top ten and top five. I want to get to No 1 in the world, ultimately.”
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That big ambition to break into the top 20 and beyond has been put on hold for now, but Boulter will have a chance to push on for another rise in the rankings over the next few weeks as she had very few ranking points to defend under the grass court season in the UK in June.
Boulter’s exit completed a miserable opening day for the English players at Indian Wells, with an erratic performance from Jack Draper halting him ambitions at first base in California.
Draper had made the last 16 of the tournament in 2023 but lost six games in a row in the final set to go down 1-6 6-3 6-2 to his Australian opponent.
It continued a frustrating period for Draper, who made the semi-finals of the Mexican Open last week but had to retire during his last-four clash with eventual champion Alex de Minaur.
Draper initially showed no ill-effects after he had battled food poisoning in Acapulco and eventually edged a lengthy fourth game to go 3-1 up before he saved a number of break points to consolidate his advantage.
Another break followed to allow the world number 37 to take the opener 6-1 but he sent down two double faults at the start of the second to hand O’Connell the initiative.
The Aussie did not look back and forced a decider, which started with Draper saving four break points before he broke to go 2-0 up.
Draper ran out of gas though, with world number 66 O’Connell booking a second-round meeting with Alexander Zverev.
