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Katie Boulter: British No 1 claims first WTA 500 tournament victory with comeback win over Marta Kostyuk in San Diego

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Katie Boulter: British No 1 claims first WTA 500 tournament victory with comeback win over Marta Kostyuk in San Diego

British No 1 Katie Boulter sealed her first WTA 500 tournament victory with a stunning 5-7 6-2 6-2 win over Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk in the final of the San Diego Open.

Boulter, who claimed her maiden championship on grass in Nottingham last summer, recorded her fifth straight victory over higher-seeded players at the event in California to lift the biggest title of her career.

The 27-year-old from Leicester was watched by boyfriend Alex De Minaur, who scheduled an early-morning flight after retaining his title in Acapulco at the weekend.


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Boulter says she still has to decide where the surfboard will go in her house!

“I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend,” she said during her post-match speech. “He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him.

“He got on a 4.15 taxi this morning and six o’clock flight to be here today, so I do appreciate it.”

Boulter’s rise…

Boulter now has seven wins against top 40 players in 2024

5 – Pegula

13 – Haddad-Maia

24 – Paolini

26 – Navarro

28 – Vekic

34 – Kostyuk

36 – Tsurenko

Boulter becomes the ninth British woman to win a WTA title in the USA, after Wade, Barker, Hobbs, Durie, Croft, Gomer, Konta and Raducanu

She had five top 100 wins in 2023 in total and no top 50 wins

Boulter rises to WTA 27th and 16th in the Race for 2024

After an even start between the two, the sixth-seeded Ukrainian began to get the better of Boulter, stringing multiple games together and rapidly closing in on the opening set.

Boulter fought back to even the set at 5-5, but Kostyuk regained the momentum to wrap up the first set 7-5.

Boulter then found her groove in the second, dominating on her first serve to clinch the set 6-2 and force a deciding third set.

The Briton continued her ascendancy into the third, claiming the first break point of the set en route to opening up a 3-1 advantage.

Boulter broke again in the seventh game and stormed home from there to close out the victory in two hours and 13 minutes.

Katie Boulter of Great Britain poses for photos on a surfboard presented to her after defeating Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine during the Cymbiotika San Diego Open 2024 Singles Final at Barnes Tennis Center on March 03, 2024 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
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Boulter was awarded a ceremonial surfboard after her win which sees her break into the top 30 for the first time, now ranked 27th and immediate seeding in Indian Wells

She continued: “This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons. This one is pretty amazing, I’ve worked very hard for it, I played some incredible tennis all week.

“Today was a complete battle, with myself as well, because I was a little bit nervous. But I managed to get over the line, and that I’m very proud of.

“A lot of it was about me staying as tough as I possibly could mentally, and I managed to keep my cool and actually kind of went within myself and calmed myself down a lot. I think that really helped me, and then I started to relax and play through shots a little bit more.”

Boulter has had a flying start to the 2024 season and the victory over Kostyuk guarantees she will break into the top 30 for the first time.

Kostyuk paid tribute to her family in Ukraine after the match, saying: “I don’t want to make this too sad, but first of all, I want to say hello to my family back in Ukraine.

“It’s been a difficult time for them and I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, but there’s no one who wants me to win more than they do.”

Nothing stops here, you know, it’s an uphill battle, and I just want to keep going and see how far I can get, because ultimately, I just want to do the best I can, and I’ve always asked that of myself.

Katie Boulter

Overcoming obstacles

En route to claiming a second WTA event title, Katie Boulter served 13 double faults against Marta Kostyuk – the equal-most in a WTA Tour match in 2024 and the most served by a WTA event final winner this decade.

Watch repeats of how Katie Boulter won the San Diego title at 5pm and 10pm today.

Can she surprise at Indian Wells?

There will be little time for Boulter to celebrate the biggest victory of her career or the Mexican Open success of boyfriend De Minaur, with both set to play in the women’s and men’s editions of the WTA 1000 tournament BNP Paribas Open, which starts this week.

Boulter enters the tournament having her season record to 11 wins in 14 matches.

A key feature of her form has been the Briton’s composure in crunch moments and she will fancy her chances of causing a splash in Indian Wells with her booming forehand a match for anyone right now.

How to watch play on Sky Sports Tennis

The stars of tennis will appear on the new Sky Sports Tennis channel every day
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The stars of tennis will appear on the new Sky Sports Tennis channel every day

Sky Sports has confirmed a new home for tennis in the UK and Ireland, with Sky Sports Tennis on Sky and NOW, making tennis content available all day, every day for fans.

Sky Sports will broadcast more live tennis than anywhere else, bringing over 4,000 matches from more than 80 tournaments a year on the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as full coverage of the US Open, all exclusively live.

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For further access, fans will also be able to follow their favourite players and gain deeper insights from both Tours via Sky Sports News, the Sky Sports app, on SkySports.com and via Sky Sports social channels.

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Find out all the ways to watch tennis on Sky Sports, including the US Open, ATP and WTA tours

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