Katie Boulter loses Birmingham opener to Lin Zhu as Harriet Dart wins battle of Brits, Ons Jabeur out in Berlin
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Updated 20/06/2023 at 22:35 GMT+1
Two days after clinching her first WTA title in Nottingham, Katie Boulter suffered a painful first-round defeat to Lin Zhu at the Birmingham Open. The British No. 1 lost 7-5 7-5 to end any hopes of following up her heroics of last week with another memorable run. In Berlin, defending champion Ons Jabeur crashed out to Jule Niemeier but there were wins for Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina.
Alcaraz survives scare to beat Rinderknech in three sets at Queen's
Video credit: SNTV
Katie Boulter suffered an early exit at the Birmingham Open two days after clinching the Nottingham title, while there was a shock in Berlin as defending champion Ons Jabeur crashed out.
Fresh from winning her first career WTA title on Sunday, Boulter suffered a disappointing first-round exit to Lin Zhu.
The British No. 1 lost 7-5 7-5 to the world No. 39, despite hinting at a comeback when she broke her Chinese opponent in the second set to edge ahead at 4-3.
Boulter was broken six times over two sets as any hopes of securing back-to-back titles came to a sudden halt.
Later, Harriet Dart came out on top of a battle of the Brits against Nottingham runner-up Jodie Burrage.
Dart came from a set down to win 4-6 6-2 7-5 in two hours and 18 minutes, earning her a second-round match against fifth seed Anhelina Kalinina.
The second seed in Birmingham, Jelena Ostapenko, battled through her opening clash with Linda Noskova by winning 6-2 5-7 6-1.
She will now face Venus Williams in a blockbuster second-round battle.
There were also wins for fourth seed Anastasia Potapova, Magdalena Frech and eighth seed Sorana Cirstea.
In Berlin, fourth seed and reigning champion Jabeur suffered a shock early exit to qualifier Jule Niemeier, losing 7-6(4) 6-4 in the first round.
The German, playing in front of a home crowd, edged a first set tie-break and earned three breaks to Jabeur’s two overall to earn her third career top-10 win.
"It's an amazing feeling, to be honest," Niemeier said.
"I lost in three sets the last two years, so when I won the first set, I was like, 'At least I can play three sets again like the last two years.' I was pretty positive, and it feels amazing to get the win today."
Niemeier showed her grass-court credentials by reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year, but hadn’t won a WTA main-draw match since Madrid in May ahead of her clash with Jabeur.
The world No. 120 saved two set points in the opener, coming back from 3-5 down to win a tie-break, before breaking the Tunisian in the opening game of the second to send herself on the path to a famous victory.
Top seed Aryna Sabalenka cruised to a 6-3 6-2 win over Vera Zvonareva in 66 minutes to reach the second round.
The world No. 2 will face Veronika Kudermetova or Zheng Qinwen next after a dominant performance where she landed 27 winners and didn’t face a single break point.
Her likeliest rival for the title, Wimbledon champion and second seed Elena Rybakina, also won, beating qualifier Polina Kudermetova 6-4 6-2 for her ninth consecutive victory.
Coco Gauff, seeded fifth in Germany, won 6-3 6-4 against Katerina Siniakova, while there were also wins for Ekaterina Alexandrova, Jaimee Fourlis and Anna Blinkova.
There was an upset as eighth seed Daria Kasatkina squandered two match points in a 2-6 6-3 6-7(7) defeat to lucky loser Elina Avanesyan.
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