Katie Boulter wins Battle of the Brits but says Sonay Kartal is the future

Telegraph

19-06-2025

Katie Boulter overcame Sonay Kartal in a close-fought Battle of the Brits at the Nottingham Open but believes her rival will soon surpass her in the rankings.
In searing 28C heat, Boulter fought back to close out the 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 victory in a match spanning two hours and 26 minutes and kept alive her hopes of a third successive title in the East Midlands.
'I know she's going to surpass me at some point,' Boulter said of Kartal. 'I mean, she's got the game for it, she's got the head for it. So at some point it's going to come and I'm going to have to face that fact.
'I genuinely think she's got an incredible attitude, she works extremely hard and the way that she plays, she's so consistent and she can disrupt your rhythm.'
It seems inconceivable that at the start of the 2024 grass-court season, before Boulter won her second successive title at Nottingham, Kartal was ranked 271 in the world, she is no in the top 50.
'It's something she has said to me for a while that she believes I'll go pretty far,' she said when asked about Boulter's comments on her potential.
For Boulter, who lost her British No. 1 title to Emma Raducanu at Queen's first professional women's event for 52 years last week, Nottingham was always going to be important in the build-up to Wimbledon.
The match itself mirrored Boulter's two at Queen's where she came out firing in the first set, faltered in the second and then had to come back in the decider – albeit she lost to Diana Shnaider in the second round in west London.
In the opening set here, the pair held serve while not to break until Kartal was guilty of one too many unforced errors. As those mistakes built up, including two tame backhands straight into the net, Boulter was able to capitalise, winning the crucial break of serve to take the opener.
But at 4-3 behind and 30-0 down in the decider, the home favourite had to find a new level to come back and get the set back on serve.
Boulter holding her back at one point and taking painkillers at 2-1 up in the third, she later acknowledged at not being 100 percent during the encounter.
The entire match hinged on two service games in the decider, with Kartal serving to stay in the match at 5-4 behind. Boulter squandered two match points before banging her racket on the ground as Kartal held. Two games later, the British No 2 took her chance to win the match.
Born in Leicestershire, Boulter stays at her mother's house during the tournament and described the Nottingham centre court as feeling like 'home', although she admitted struggling in the heat.
When the US Open doubles draw list came out, matching up Emma Raducanu with Carlos Alcaraz and Jack Draper teaming up with last year's Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, there was the notable absence of Boulter and fiance Alex de Minaur.
'I actually panicked when I came off court the other day and the list was out,' Boulter explains before adding that she entered herself and De Minaur in the new-look doubles competition as soon as she could, although the pair are still waiting for confirmation, with the final entry list closing on July 28.