In the last all-British final in 1977, Sue Barker beat Virginia Wade in San Francisco. In the first all-British Hologic WTA Tour semifinal since 1975, Boulter downed Heather Watson, another Brit, in straight sets to reach her first-ever tour-level singles final, and Burrage followed with a 7-5, 7-5 win over former Top 20 Alizé Cornet in the second semifinal to match Boulter's accomplishment.Īt World No.126 and No.131, respectively, Boulter and Burrage are the fifth and fourth-lowest ranked finalists at a grass-court WTA event since 1985. Watson still has a chance of picking up a trophy though as she and Harriet Dart, who lost to Boulter in the quarter-finals of the singles event on Friday, have reached the women's doubles final.ĭart and Boulter beat fellow Britons Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls 6-4 6-4 to set up a final on Sunday against the pairing of Ulrikke Eikeri of Norway and Ingrid Neel of Estonia.A dream week for home favorites at the Rothesay International Nottingham got even better on Saturday as Katie Boulter and Jodie Burrage set up the first all-British final on the Hologic WTA Tour for the first time in 46 years. I have so much time for her, she is an amazing girl." "She is an incredible player and I knew it would be a battle. It was a really tough match and I just tried to put my heart on the line and managed to get through in the end. "It means so much to me, especially here. "Even if it's not my time, it's been a great week for me and I will keep working hard. ![]() "I've worked so hard for this and I'm just going to keep plugging away," said 26-year-old Boulter. Watson led 3-0 in the second set, but Boulter fought back to win seven of the next nine games to move into the final. When play resumed, Watson immediately got the first set back on serve, only for Boulter, impressing with her powerful forehand shots, to regain the advantage in the ninth game before serving out the set. Watson, 31, has won four WTA titles in her career but none of them on grass and none of them in the United Kingdom, with her last WTA title being at the Mexican Open in February 2020.īoulter could not take a break-point chance in the opening game of the match, but did then break Watson's serve in the fifth game in the last point before a 90-minute rain delay. ![]() If Boulter wins on Sunday she will stay the top-ranked British player when the rankings are released on Monday, but she will lose that position to Burrage if her fellow Briton wins the Nottingham tournament. However, Sunday's match will be the first all-British WTA final since Sue Barker beat Virginia Wade in San Francisco, USA on 28 February, 1977.īoulter became British number one for the first time earlier this week, replacing the injured Emma Raducanu. There were six breaks of serve in the opening eight games of the second set before Burrage again gained the crucial break late on to secure the win.īoulter and Burrage met in the final on the lower-ranked ITF Tour in Canberra, Australia, in January, with Boulter coming from a set down to gain a 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory. The Frenchwoman led 2-0 against Burrage but the Briton recovered and then broke Cornet's serve in the 11th game before holding her serve to take the first set. "It's going to be an amazing day on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to it - what an amazing tournament for us."Ĭornet, 33, is a former world number 11 and beat top seed and current world number eight Maria Sakkari of Greece in the last 16 on Wednesday. ![]() "Alize is not an easy opponent to put away, as it showed at the end. "I was not expecting this coming into this week but I'm very, very happy with my performance," said 24-year-old Burrage. In the men's competition, Andy Murray beat Portugal's Nuno Borges to set up a final against France's Arthur Cazaux. It will be a maiden WTA final for both players, with the position of British number one also on the line.
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