Tennis
Katie Boulter breezes into Nottingham Open quarter-finals as defending champion eyes back-to-back titles
Katie Boulter’s dream of a second successive title at her home event is firmly alive as the British No 1 breezed into the quarter-finals of the Nottingham Open with 6-4 6-3 victory over Rebecca Marino.
Victory at the Wimbledon warm-up event last year kick-started an impressive year for the 27-year-old which has seen her surge into the world’s top 30.
Boulter, from nearby Leicester, said after her win: “Just being back where it started reminds me how far I have come and I just keep working hard every day and see what happens.
“I am out here enjoying myself on the Nottingham courts and I don’t take that for granted.
“It is going to take some time to be at my best, I am realistic with that, it is about getting some momentum and getting to the last weeks of the grass court season and playing my best stuff there.
“But I wouldn’t mind playing my best stuff here either. I’ll take it one match at a time and see how we go.”
Heather Watson was unable to follow her compatriot into the last eight, however, as she lost to 2016 champion Karolina Pliskova, going down 6-4 6-4 to the sixth seed.
Emma Raducanu will aim to book herself a quarter-final spot when she takes on Daria Snigur on Thursday, while Fran Jones also carries British hopes against Ashlyn Krueger.
In the men’s Challenger event, Dan Evans endured a tough time of it when edging past last year’s Wimbledon boys’ champion, and fellow Brit, Henry Searle.
Evans needed two tie-breaks to prevail, ultimately winning 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) to set up another all-British tie against Charles Broom in the quarter-final.
“He’s obviously very good,” said Evans of Searle. “I’m just happy to come through, to be honest – it’s not the draw I wanted to see when I saw I was next to his name.”
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