Katie Boulter’s US Open journey has ended abruptly in the first round.
Boulter had a big opportunity after Madison Keys’ shock exit in her section of the draw. However, the British number two could not navigate her way past 27th seed Marta Kostyuk.
Kostyuk, who broke the Boulter serve four times, won their first-round contest 6-4 6-4.
After the match, 2013 Wimbledon Ladies Singles champion Marion Bartoli offered some advice to Boulter moving forward.
Bartoli, who was speaking on Sky Sports after the match on Tuesday, said Boulter ‘has to go back to the drawing board.’
Marion Bartoli says Katie Boulter needs to improve her first serve and be less defensive
Bartoli’s assessment of Boulter’s performance partly matched Boulter’s own self-assessment after the match.
The 27-year-old admitted she needs to work on her serve during the post-match press conference.
Following Boulter and Kostyuk’s contest, Bartoli noted that there was ‘not much separating the two players.’
Bartoli said: “She saved those five match points. She did a terrific job to hang in there. She was 0-40 up when Marta Kostyuk was serving for it at 5-4 and we thought that could be the turning point, but unfortunately those unforced errors at crucial times got the better of her.
“When you look at the numbers, she had so many chances to break Marta Kostyuk. She had a handful of break points but could not break her more than twice during the whole match.
“Not much separating the two players, but you can see the lack of confidence when you need it in those moments and your shots, you just can’t execute them.
“I think she has to go back to the drawing board in terms of her game plan and strategy. To me, she always plays a lot better when she just is striking the ball first and is looking to win the point on her own terms.
“Today, she was very defensive at times. She was two or three metres behind the baseline trying to retrieve, and I feel that is not the best game plan for her.
“On top of that, she had eight double faults for zero aces, so I think she has to look at that first serve and get a much better placement because when you are as tall as her, you can really use that first serve as a weapon and today, unfortunately for Katie, it was not a weapon.
“So she can get the serve to work a bit better for her and be a bit offensive in her strategy, I think that would be the way forward.”
Boulter loses 60 WTA points
At the 2024 US Open, Boulter won her first-round match against Aljaksandra Sasnowitsch, before losing to Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maniero.
As a result, she earned 70 WTA ranking points.
Boulter’s first-round exit at the 2025 US Open means she will lose 60 ranking points upon the tournament’s completion, as a first-round appearance at a Grand Slam earns WTA players 10 ranking points.
This means Boulter will likely exit the WTA top 50 and fall to British number three behind Sonay Kartal.
