It was clear where Katie Boulter was really struggling during her comprehensive defeat at the Japan Open

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Katie Boulter was defeated by Sorana Cirstea on Wednesday in the second round of the Japan Open.

Following Boulter’s impressive victory against second seed Linda Noskova on Monday, the Brit was comfortably defeated by Cirstea, losing 6-3, 6-1.

Cirstea will now face either fifth seed Marie Bouzkova or Viktoria Golubic in the next round.

There is a silver lining for Boulter: she is projected to rise from 59 to 57 in the WTA rankings. However, this may change depending on future results in Japan and the Ningbo Open in China.

Cirstea was simply better than her British opponent, who struggled in one particular area throughout the match.

Katie Boulter’s struggles to win first serve points against Cirstea

Katie Boulter performed well on her first serve during the contest against Cirstea. As per Sofascore, she made 75 per cent of her first serves.

The Brit’s solid first-serve percentage will give her fans a renewed sense of hope following Boulter’s recent admission about her serve.

However, the British number two struggled mightily to win points on her first serve.

Boulter won just 14 of the 36 points in which she made a first serve – a percentage of 39 per cent.

Remarkably, Boulter won a high percentage of her second serve points – 50 per cent.

The 29-year-old will hope to improve her first-serve fortunes when she competes in her next tournament at the end of October.

Boulter’s next tournament

Katie Boulter is set to travel south-west following her loss in Japan, to take part in the Hong Kong Open.

The event, held between October 27 and November 2, is also set to feature Emma Raducanu, Victoria Mboko, Leylah Fernandez and Alexandra Eala.

Boulter reached the final of the 2024 Hong Kong Open, losing to Diana Shnaider at the final hurdle. Shnaider is not currently on the entry lists for the 2025 edition.

This may very well be Boulter’s last tournament of the year, as it is the last WTA Tour event scheduled before the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Boulter is not on the entry list for either the Pan Pacific Open or Guangzhou Open, both set to take place the week before the Hong Kong Open.