Katie Boulter finishes runner-up to top seed Diana Shnaider in Hong Kong
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Katie Boulter finished runner-up at the Hong Kong Tennis Open after losing out to an impressive performance from world No.14 Diana Shnaider.
In a battle between the top two seeds, Shnaider clinched her fourth title of the season with a 6-1, 6-2 win over the Briton.
It brought an end to another strong week for Boulter having also made the semi-finals at the WTA 500 in Tokyo last week. Boulter is the first Brit to make the singles final in Hong Kong.
This is the third WTA final she’s reached this season – lifting titles in San Diego and Nottingham earlier in the year. A final run in Hong Kong will see her reach another career-high ranking next week – currently sitting at world No.23 in the WTA live rankings after the final WTA Tour event of her season.
Boulter will now turn her attention to the Billie Jean King Cup where she’ll join up with the Lexus GB team to face Germany on 15 November.
Katie Boulter’s route to the Hong Kong final
|
Round |
Result |
|
First round |
Bt. Aoi Ito (JPN, world No.156) 6-4, 6-4 |
|
Second round |
Bt. Wiyu Wang (CHN, world No.100) 7-6(7), 6-4 |
|
Quarter-final |
Bt. Anastasia Zakharova (world No.113) 6-4, 6-0 |
|
Semi-final |
Bt. Yue Yuan (CHN, world No.45) 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 |
|
Final |
Lost vs Diana Shnaider (world No.14) 6-1, 6-2 |
Hong Kong Tennis Open highlights
Shnaider got off to a blistering start in the final – breaking the British No.1 on her opening service game to mount the pressure on Boulter right from the get-go.
The easy power and consistency off the Shnaider racket in humid conditions proved difficult for the Brit to handle early on. Despite rescuing five break points on her next service game, she soon found herself 4-0 down.
Boulter started to get her forehand going late in the set and saved two set points to get her first hold of the match, but it wasn’t enough to stop Shnaider taking it on serve after 37 minutes.
The challenge only grew tougher at the start of the second. Having missed game points on serve in the first game of the set, Boulter sent a smash long at deuce before making a mistake off her backhand to gift Shnaider the early break once again.
Shnaider – who has won all four of her career titles in 2024 – only continued to shift through the gears and made life increasingly difficult for Boulter.
On return, she limited Boulter to just 50% (14/28) of points won off the first serve – one of her biggest weapons – and the double break in the second set all but sealed the match.
The Brit managed to get two holds at the backend of the set – staving off championship points – but Shnaider rounded off a comprehensive performance with her eighth straight game on serve.
