Monday, December 23, 2024

Nottingham Open: Katie Boulter reaches semi-finals as Jack Draper wins – BBC Sport

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Video caption, Boulter’s best shots from her Nottingham quarter-final

  • Author, Charlotte Coates
  • Role, BBC Sport journalist

Defending champion Katie Boulter is through to the Nottingham Open semi-finals after a rain-interrupted straight-set win over Poland’s Magdalena Frech.

The Briton won the match on centre court 6-2 6-4 in 83 minutes.

Boulter, 27, was a point away from a double break of serve in the first set before the rain started to fall.

The British number one returned to the court after the delay to win the next two games to claim the first set.

Fifth seed Frech capitalised on a lapse in concentration from Boulter in the second set and raced into a two-game lead.

Boulter then reeled off four games in a row to take control of the second set and eventually serve out for the match.

She will play the winner of the all-British quarter-final between Emma Raducanu and Fran Jones, which did not start on Friday because of the rain.

“I’m slowly building momentum and really glad to get through today,” she said.

“It’s absolutely awesome to see a lot of Brits doing well. We are in a really good place.”

Before Boulter took to centre court on Friday, Jones secured her place in the last eight with a three-set win over American Ashlyn Krueger.

Play was suspended on Thursday with the match locked at 6-4 4-6 6-5 (30-30) and Jones was able to close out the victory without the need for a tie-break.

Over on court one, top seed Ons Jabeur raced into the quarter-finals with a 6-2 6-1 win over Czech Linda Fruhvirtova.

Jabeur will take on former world number one Karolina Pliskova in the last eight.

Elsewhere, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka was beaten in three sets in the quarter-finals of the Libema Open by fellow former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu.

Japan’s Osaka lost 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7-3) at the tournament in the Netherlands.

Draper reaches Stuttgart Open semi-finals

Britain’s Jack Draper progressed to the Stuttgart Open semi-finals with a battling three-set win over defending champion Frances Tiafoe.

The 22-year-old came from a set down to beat the 28th-ranked American 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-1).

Sixth seed Draper was in superb serving form as he produced a brilliant 31 aces to book a semi-final clash with American Brandon Nakashima.

Draper missed the whole of the grass-court season last year after suffering a shoulder injury but is now set to enter Wimbledon as the British number one.

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