Brilliant Boulter silences hostile crowd
IT is fair to assume Beatriz Haddad Maia is getting a little sick of the sight of Katie Boulter. Last month Britain’s No 1 saw off the Brazilian world No 13 on her way to winning the San Diego Open, the first WTA 500 title of her career.
Then overnight on Saturday the pair locked horns again, this time at the Miami Open where Haddad Maia benefited from the backing of a vocal Brazilian contingent in the stands.
But try as they might to create a hostile atmosphere for the Brit, the provocation only appeared to take the in-form Boulter’s game to the next level. She only needed 90 minutes to storm past Haddad Maia and claim a 6-2, 6-3 win. Britain’s world No 30 celebrated with a fist pump and roar of delight before playfully cupping her ear to the crowd after securing only the fifth win of her career against a player ranked inside the world’s top 20. It is also the first time Boulter has made the last 16 at Miami, where she will play two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka next. Boulter, 27, has a realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals after world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka was knocked out in her section of the draw. Sabalenka went down 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 to Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine in her second match following the death of her former boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov. Koltsov died aged 42 last Monday in what police described as an ‘apparent suicide’ in Miami.
In the men’s draw, British No 1 Cameron Norrie will meet third seed Daniil Medvedev in the third round tonight after battling past Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 7-5, 6-7, 6-2. The news was less positive for Dan Evans, however, who squandered two match points in a 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 defeat by American Christopher Eubanks, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last year.