Katie Boulter conceded she was beaten by the “much better player” as her Wimbledon run came to an end with a crushing loss to defending champion Elena Rybakina.
Boulter cemented her new-found status as British number one by reaching the last-32 for a second successive year, and there were high hopes she could at least give third seed Rybakina a match.
Boulter has shown many times that she loves the big stage but, having waited until nearly 9pm to walk out on Centre Court, she managed to detain Rybakina for only 56 minutes in a 6-1 6-1 hammering that ends home singles hopes at Wimbledon.
“Obviously a really tough match against a tough competitor,” said the 26-year-old. “I gave it my best today. I wouldn’t say I really felt like I got into the match fully.
“She’s clearly the defending champion for a reason, and I learned a lot today and that’s what I’m going to have to take from today’s match.”
After some positive results earlier in the week it has been a chastening two days for British tennis, with Andy Murray, Cameron Norrie and Liam Broady all falling on Friday.
Boulter pulled off the best win of her career in the second round here last year, defeating former finalist Karolina Pliskova, and in seven previous matches against top-10 players had only failed to win at least a set on one occasion.
Rybakina had not been convincing in the first two rounds after coming into the tournament under-cooked because of illness but she hit her stride straight away and the match quickly got away from Boulter.
The Kazakh possesses probably the fiercest strike in the women’s game, as well as the best serve following Serena Williams’ retirement, and she lost only nine points on serve throughout the match while hitting 20 winners.
Boulter admitted she has never faced a ball-strike quite like Rybakina’s before, saying: “Obviously it’s a lot quicker and the majority of girls, they don’t quite hit the ball like that. It’s quite flat. You don’t really see where she’s going. She disguises it very well.
“I struggled with it a lot today. It felt like I got into it a little bit at times and I started to pick up her ball but she was relentless at the end of the day. She was the much better player.”
Having to wait until so late to go on court after two long matches and a rain delay probably did not help Boulter, who nevertheless insisted she enjoyed the occasion.
“It was quite late,” she said. “Obviously it was my first match playing under lights. It was a little bit different and it took time for me to adjust on serve especially. I don’t think I quite found it.
“I will always reflect back on something positive. The crowd are incredible. I wanted to give them a bit more today, but unfortunately I couldn’t do that. But I appreciated them every single second I was out there.”
There are certainly positives to take from the grass-court season for Boulter, who won her first WTA Tour event in Nottingham last month, while she will be at a career-high ranking just outside the top 70 a week on Monday.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a tough night but I’m going to sit here tomorrow morning and tell you that I’m at a career high,” she said.
“I’ve had some seriously positive weeks. I’ve come off the back of five long weeks with no injuries, no issues.
“I’ve got a great rest of the year ahead of me. I’ve got not many points to defend. It’s a really good opportunity for me to keep pushing my ranking up and really make a statement and play many more matches like today. They’re the matches that I want to be playing.”
It is not the end of Boulter’s Wimbledon, meanwhile, with the Leicestershire player due to contest her second-round mixed doubles match alongside boyfriend Alex De Minaur on Sunday.
“I’m sure tonight Alex will be giving me some words of wisdom,” she said. “I’m going to be ready to go tomorrow and enjoying myself and having fun. It will be a great way to end Wimbledon, for sure.”
Rybakina was delighted with her performance and she moves on to a fourth-round clash against 13th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Djokovic recovers from slow start to move past Michelsen on Shanghai return
Novak Djokovic marked his Shanghai Masters return with a hard-fought straight-sets win over Alex Michelsen.
The four-time champion, who is appearing in this event for the first time since 2019, required two tie-breaks before prevailing 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (11-9) in just under two hours.
Djokovic, still donning a protective sleeve over his right knee, made a slow start in only his second match since losing to Alexei Popyrin in the US Open third round, winning just four points in the first three games as he fell 4-1 behind.
However, the 24-time major winner broke back in the seventh game before dominating the tie-break for first blood.
Roles were reversed in the second set as Michelsen cancelled out an earlier break in game seven.
However, the American squandered two set points to level and was eventually punished by Djokovic, who will play either 28th seed Flavio Cobolli or three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka in the next round.
Data Debrief: Djokovic continues American dominance
Djokovic was given an early scare, but his experience eventually showed as he came through.
Including team events, the Serb has now won his last 33 ATP-level matches against American opponents, with his last such defeat coming against Sam Querrey at Wimbledon in 2016.
The 24-time major winner also demonstrated his determination when the pressure intensified, and he has now come through 12 of his 16 tie-breaks played this season.
Gauff fights back to beat Badosa in China Open semi-finals
Coco Gauff recovered from a set and a break down to reach the China Open final with a 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory over Paula Badosa on Saturday.
Having given up an early break in the opener, Gauff got one of her own by converting her eighth break point in a mammoth eighth game featuring 10 deuces, only for Badosa to hit back immediately to go a set up.
Gauff lost serve immediately in the second set to go on the back foot, only to level the match with back-to-back breaks, the second of them to love.
The decider began with a series of breaks, Gauff taking two of them as the momentum swung her way, then she protected her lead all the way to reach her first final since winning January's Auckland Open.
The 20-year-old is the youngest player to reach the women's singles final at the China Open since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.
She has fought from a set down to win in each of her last three matches, the first time she has done so in her career. She is the first player to do so in WTA-1000 events since Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells 2022.
Data Debrief: Gauff brings up century
Saturday's match was Gauff's 100th at WTA 1000-level events, and her 67th such victory.
Among American players, only Serena Williams (87), Venus Williams and Jessica Pegula (70) have bettered her 67 wins through their first 100 matches at such events.
Alcaraz beats home favourite Shang in Shanghai opener
Carlos Alcaraz began his Shanghai Open campaign with a straight-sets win over China's Shang Juncheng, bringing up his 10th straight victory.
Just three days on from his epic victory over Jannik Sinner in the China Open final, Alcaraz recorded a 6-2 6-2 win over Shang inside one hour and 17 minutes.
The four-time grand slam winner wasted no time by breaking in the very first game of the encounter, then repeated the trick six games later to take the opener, avoiding any pressure as he won 82% of his first-serve points.
Alcaraz produced the shot of the match early in the second set, producing a brilliant backhand flick to salvage a point while backtracking from the net.
Back-to-back breaks midway through the second set sealed Alcaraz's 10th straight victory, after which he hailed the performance of his 19-year-old opponent.
"I'm not used to playing against players younger than me," Alcaraz said. "He has been playing good tennis lately, winning his first ATP title [in Chengdu], so I'm pretty sure he's going to climb the rankings.
"At the net he told me that it's a pleasure share the court with you. So these kinds of things that I hear from younger players, it's great."
Data Debrief: Double figures for Alcaraz
Alcaraz's victory was his 10th in succession since he suffered a shock second-round defeat to Botic van de Zandschulp at the US Open in August.
He will face another Chinese player in the next round, taking on world number 560 Wu Yibing.
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