Katie Boulter questioned the umpire's judgement after winning her opening match at the Hong Kong Open. The eighth seed survived a brief lapse in the second set to beat Viktorija Golubic 6-2 7-6(2).
Boulter looked to be cruising to victory when she led 5-2 in the second set, but she was thrown off by an interruption and lost four games in a row before recovering to take it in a tiebreak. Afterwards, the Brit admitted the incident had gotten "under her skin".
Match point interrupted
A former finalist in Hong Kong, Boulter served for the match at 5-2 in the second and even had a match point on her serve. During the crucial game, the British No. 1 complained to chair umpire S. Takahashi when a point was not replayed despite an audible noise coming from outside of the court.
It unsettled Boulter, who then had her serve broken twice in a row. After battling back to secure a straight-set victory, the 30-year-old immediately called out the chair official's decision-making.
Boulter's reaction
"It was interesting. I was playing some really good tennis. I feel like I should have closed it out but a couple of things happened," Boulter said after blowing her big lead in set two.
"There was a little bit of interesting judgement which got under my skin a little bit and, usually, I'm pretty good at batting it off but I was a little tired. It's end of season and it seemed to get to me but lesson learned, I managed to get over the line."
It's the second time in as many weeks that Boulter has beaten Swiss ace Golubic. The Brit earned a convincing 6-2 6-1 win over the world No. 89 on her way to the Osaka semi-finals late last month. And Boulter is hoping to continue that form in Hong Kong, where she now faces Claire Liu.
Strong Asian swing for British women
The British women have enjoyed a strong Asian swing. Aside from Boulter's run to the Osaka semi-finals, Sonay Kartal finished runner-up at the WTA 1000 event in Wuhan last month.
And Harriet Dart came through qualifying to win a maiden WTA Tour title in Guangzhou over the weekend. The Brit beat teenage star Lilli Tagger 4-6 6-3 6-4 in Sunday's final and said: "I'll try not to get too emotional. A big thank you to my team this week.
"It's amazing to play in front of such a big crowd. It's been so much fun here and I really appreciate it and hope to be back next year.
"This week shows that even when I'm down – and people think I'm down and out – I'm still able to overcome it. Today was a really tough match. I have no doubt Lilli will go on and win multiple titles. To come through a week like this means a lot."
Britain now has four women in the top 100 – Boulter, Kartal, Dart, and Francesca Jones. Emma Raducanu is currently sitting at No. 106 and has not played a match since June due to a leg injury. Alicia Dudeney also reached a career-high ranking of No. 200 this week after reaching the second round of the WTA 125 event in Samsun, Turkey.
