Katie Boulter suffers first-round exit to Elena-Gabriela Ruse in Austria
At the Upper Austria Women’s Linz Open, British Katie Boulter was defeated by Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round.
Boulter, 29, fell 7-6 7-6 on clay to advance to world No. 87 Ruse, who will now face Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska or American Ann Li in the last 16.
Boulter lost her first two service games in the opening set but broke serve twice before taking the lead in the tiebreak.
The British number three broke Ruse’s serve for a third time to take an early advantage in the second set, but his opponent quickly hit back in a see-saw encounter.
Boulter won another tiebreak, trailing match point 6-5, but Ruse claimed two small breaks to take a 5-2 lead before serving out to secure the win.
World No. 62 Boulter won the fourth WTA Tour title of her career at the Ostrava Open in February and reached the last eight at the Merida Open in Mexico.
However, before this loss, he failed to advance past the second and third rounds at Indian Wells and Miami Open, respectively.
