Katie Boulter beat second seed Linda Noskova in the first round of the Japan Open 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 with her most impressive win in months.
Boulter endured a largely disappointing summer and came into this week’s WTA 250 event in Osaka on the back of five opening match defeats from seven tournaments, including at the US Open in August.
The poor form means she has dropped behind Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal in the rankings to become British No 3 but she showed signs of her best tennis with a straight sets win over Noskova to set up a second round tie against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Tennis.
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Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur helped prank both ATP and WTA stars with the ‘Bad Tour Guide’
“I’m really pleased with my performance today. It’s been a difficult few weeks,” said Boulter, whose last win over a top 20 player came against Paula Badosa at Wimbledon in July.
“I just tried to bet on myself, commit to the ball and go for it. Against someone like Linda, you have to win the match, they won’t lose it. I went out there and played a good match, so I’m happy.
“I’m not sure what it is, but I gravitate towards Japan. I love it here. I played here many times when I was younger. I don’t know why I have great feelings here but it showed on the court.”
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Katie Boulter has endured a difficult summer but will be hoping for a big run this week in Osaka
Boulter came flying out of the blocks with an immediate break to go 2-0 up but a series of errors, coupled with quality shot-making from Noskova, saw the Czech player win four games in a row.
However, Boulter broke back to make it 4-4 and saved a set point at 5-4 down, before breaking herself in the 11th game to have the opportunity to serve out for the match.
Boulter was unable to hold serve though, double-faulting twice as world No 17 Noskova sent the opening set to a crucial tie-break where the British player was on the front foot throughout and let out a roar when clinching the set.
Noskova broke early in the second set before fatigue from her recent big runs to the final of the China Open and last week in the last 16 of the Wuhan Open began to show.
Boulter broke in the sixth game and was never threatened on serve as she held that break advantage to the end of the match.
Earlier on, top seed Naomi Osaka delighted the home fans with a comfortable 6-0 6-4 win over wild card Wakana Sonobe.
Impressive win for Fearnley in Sweden
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Highlights of Jacob Fearnley and Tallon Griekspoor from the Stockholm Open
Britain’s Jacob Fearnley began his Stockholm Open campaign with a superb 6-3 3-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-5) win against fifth seed Tallon Griekspoor after two hours and 44 minutes.
“That was really tough,” said the Scot, who hit 32 winners and won 78 per cent of his first serve points. “I thought things were going fairly comfortably up until 5-3 serving for the match. I got really tight and to be fair to Tallon he competed very hard and upped his level when he needed to.
“It was just a war until the end. Huge respect to Tallon but happy to be through.”
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AloJapan.com