Katie Boulter reflects on ‘very special’ title in San Diego
Katie Boulter has won the biggest title of her career in San Diego, California, fighting back to beat Marta Kostyuk in the final last night.
Boulter beat the Ukrainian, 5-7 6-2 6-2, to claim the WTA 500 crown with victories over four seeded players over the past week.
The British No.1 won her maiden WTA title in Nottingham last year, and has since continued her rise up the rankings, as she now climbs 22 places to a career-high of world No.27.
And she spoke about the achievement in the post-match ceremony, “I don’t know what just happened. This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons. This one is pretty amazing, I’ve worked very hard for it, I played some incredible tennis all week.”
Boulter continued, “Today was a complete battle, with myself as well, because I was a little bit nervous. But I managed to get over the line, and that I’m very proud of.
“A lot of it was about me staying as tough as I possibly could mentally, and I managed to keep my cool and actually kind of went within myself and calmed myself down a lot. I think that really helped me, and then I started to relax and play through shots a little bit more.”
5 – Katie Boulter has become in San Diego the third British female player to defeat five top-50 opponents in a single event this Century after Johanna Konta in Beijing 2016 and Emma Raducanu at the US Open 2021. Strike.#SanDiegoOpen | @SanDiegoOpen @WTA_insider @wta @the_LTA
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) March 4, 2024
It was not just Boulter who had a great week, with her boyfriend Alex de Minaur also defending his ATP 500 title in Acapulco on Saturday.
The Australian did not hang around long in Mexico, as he got an early flight to San Diego in order to be able to watch his girlfriend in the final.
This is something that Boulter mentioned she was grateful for, “I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend. He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him. He got on a 4.15am taxi this morning and six o’clock flight to be here today so I do appreciate it.”
Boulter's Box ????
From Acapulco to San Diego to cheer on @katiecboulter!@alexdeminaur | #SanDiegoOpen pic.twitter.com/gf4pczaPwr
— wta (@WTA) March 4, 2024
Both Boulter and De Minaur will remain in California, ahead of Indian Wells beginning this week on Wednesday 6th March.
Inside the baseline…
It has been an incredible week for Katie Boulter, who continues to keep raising her level after the best year of her career. Beating the likes of Beatriz Haddad Maia, Donna Vekic, Emma Navarro and Marta Kostyuk in back-to-back matches is no mean feat, and the 27-year-old really had to fight in some of those matches to do so. Overall is a great story for both Boulter and Alex de Minaur, who are quickly becoming tennis’ biggest current power couple.
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