Katie Boulter reminded everyone why she is the British number one after beating Emma Raducanu in the battle of Britain at the Nottingham Open on her way back to the final.
Boulter is the defending champion at her home tournament and was up against it, having lost a marathon first set to Raducanu on Saturday night before bad light stopped play in their semi-final.
But the 27-year-old returned on Sunday and flexed her muscles with a dominant display to claim a 6-7 (13) 6-3 6-4 victory to have a shot at a second-successive title.
Finalist again in Nottingham! đ
Defending champ @katiecboulter wins an EPIC semi-final vs Emma Raducanu to book her spot in the #RothesayOpen final #BackTheBrits đŹđ§ | @WTA pic.twitter.com/a4tJT2BDI7
â LTA (@the_LTA) June 16, 2024
She was too good for Raducanu on the resumption, outhitting her opponent with a flurry of winners and defending excellently as she outlined her status as the countryâs top player in a three-hour-plus victory.
Raducanu was the queen of British tennis following her amazing US Open triumph in 2021, but injuries stopped her kicking on and in the meantime, Boulter has stolen her throne.
Boulter â ranked 30 in the world â will defend her Nottingham crown and claim a third WTA Tour title if she can beat Karolina Pliskova in the final later in the day.
âI am going to need a defib because my heart rate is too high now,â Boulter joked.
âWhat a match, what an incredible player. She is only going to get better and better, she makes it so tough to close it out.
âI am so happy to get through, Iâm really proud of myself.
âIt has been a really tough week for me. It has not been easy for me to get over the line. It is tough to come back as a defending champion, this is the first time I have done it but it is going OK so far.â
![Emma Raducanu puts her hands on her hips after defeat at the Nottingham Open](http://image.assets.pressassociation.io/v2/image/production/78a2b35b4e017c8bd95e9088f4f46f5fY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzE4NjM1Mjg3/2.76542444.jpg?w=640)
Pliskova, the 2016 champion, is undefeated at Nottingham and booked her spot in the final with a 6-7 (9) 6-1 6-4 win over Diane Parry.
Despite the semi-final defeat, it has been a positive week for Raducanu in her first tournament in seven weeks as she carefully manages her return following double wrist and ankle surgery last year.
She competed well throughout the week and looked strong physically, but came up against an opponent too good in Boulter.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Â
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Â
That is invaluable.Â
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistâs job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersâ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersâ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the âreport this postâ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here