Boulter breezes through opener on return from lengthy injury
Hfour withdrawals clear the draw for 23-year-old hburrage makes most of action in Progress Tour
Despite a ranking just inside the top 400, Katie Boulter still finds herself the star attraction – and clear favourite – at the Progress Tour Women’s Championships after the withdrawal of four players since the weekend.
Katie Swan and Eden Silva both pulled out yesterday, after the top two seeds, Heather Watson and Harriet Dart, had done the same on Monday. But Boulter, who missed the bulk of last season with a spinal stress fracture, was unperturbed as she eased past late call-up Alice Gillan 6-1, 6-4 at Roehampton’s National Tennis Centre.
“It was really nice to be back out there,” Boulter said after her first competitive match for 19 weeks. “It’s been a mix of emotions. I want to be back playing how I was, but the reality is I am going to be a bit rusty. I have to keep focused and keep battling away until I find my rhythm.”
The oddity is that none of the players who withdrew had hit a ball on a match court since lockdown began in March. Whereas many of those who are playing in Roehampton
– notably Jodie Burrage and
Freya Christie – have been in constant motion for two weeks.
“I’ve played 12 singles matches in 13 days,”
Burrage said yesterday, after a 6-2, 6-3 win over Emily Arbuthnott. “I was feeling it in my legs this morning, but my body is holding up fine.” Meanwhile, another independent tournament has sprung up at St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey, which will rumble on over the next month. On Sunday, Burrage beat her sometime doubles partner Christie in the first of five finals, each concluding a week’s action in the SGH Series. “Honestly, it’s been so good, the past two weeks,” said Burrage, who is backed by the Lawn Tennis Association through their pro scholarship programme. “It’s been pretty full-on, but I put in the hard work during lockdown and now it’s paying off on court.”
The winner of this week’s Progress Tour is due to receive £6,000. But for Burrage, who had just moved in to a flat not far from the All England Club shortly before lockdown, these cheques add up.
“I am looking to rent the other room of my flat, but I can’t find anyone at the moment,” she said.