Katie Boulter mounted a stirring comeback to win the Ostrava Open, defeating Germany's Tamara Korpatsch 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the final. The 29-year-old Briton lost four consecutive games spanning the end of the first set and the start of the second before reeling off 12 of the next 15 games to secure her first WTA Tour title since 2024.
Boulter, who had slipped to 120th in the rankings after a difficult year, will climb back into the top 100 following her fourth career WTA title. She added the Ostrava crown to previous successes in Nottingham (twice) and San Diego. The British number one worked with American coach Michael Joyce, former mentor to Maria Sharapova, and lost only two sets during the entire tournament in the Czech Republic.
“It feels incredible,” said Boulter, who is due to marry Australia’s world number six Alex de Minaur this year. “I’ve waited a long time for this one. I’ve worked extremely hard after a really tough year and it feels like I got the reward I deserved.” She tore an abductor muscle in her final event of the last season in Hong Kong and had found tour-level wins scarce since Wimbledon.
Elsewhere this weekend, Emma Raducanu missed the chance to win her first title since her 2021 US Open triumph, losing 6-0, 6-2 to Romania’s Sorana Cirstea in the Transylvania Open final. Top seed Raducanu struggled after a marathon semi-final and needed a medical time-out in the second set. Meanwhile, Czech qualifier Sara Bejlek secured a surprise first WTA title at the Abu Dhabi Open, beating Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(5), 6-1.
