Tianjin | Boulter impresses in China

Katie Boulter is poised to break into the top 100 following her excellent run into the quarter-finals of the Tianjin Open where she was downed by Karolina Pliskova, the world No.6, in a tough three set, two-hour and eight-minute  battle.

Ranked 101 at the start of the week, she was beaten 5-7 6-0 6-3 having earlier beaten Maria Sakkari and Barbora Krejcikova to make the last eight.

Appearing in only her second quarter-final at WTA level, the 22-year-old snatched the first set and was a break up in the decider but ultimately succumbed to her Czech opponent.

In a back-and-forth first set, Boulter, playing against a top-10 opponent for the first time, claimed an early break, which she immediately surrendered.

She then dropped serve to trail 5-4 but then reeled off three games in a row, including back-to-back breaks, to gain the initiative in the contest.

Pliskova replied by ‘bagelling’ her in the second set only for Boulter to respond in the decider by breaking the Czech’s serve to take a 2-0 lead. Like in the opening set, Pliskova broke straight back but this time it was decisive move, breaking again in the seventh to wrap up the win and a place in the semi-finals.