Katie Boulter breezed through to the second round of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo as she beat Australia’s Priscilla Hon in straight sets.
The British No 1, ranked 33rd in the world, needed just 75 minutes to clinch a comfortable 6-1 6-4 victory over Hon, who sits outside of the top 200 and some 184 places below Boulter.
Boulter led 5-3 in the second set before her serve was broken for the first time, but she quickly snuffed out any threat of a late comeback from her opponent when immediately breaking back to wrap up the match.
The 28-year-old, seeded ninth, will next play Japan’s Kyoka Okamura in the last 16 after the world No 271 earned a shock opening win over American Hailey Baptiste.
Fifteen-year-old Brit Stojsavljevic denied first WTA win in thriller
Fifteen-year-old British hopeful Mika Stojsavljevic produced an outstanding display but was ultimately denied a first-ever WTA win as she lost a thrilling match against Moyuka Uchijima 6-4 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (8-6) in Tokyo.
Stojsavljevic is the reigning US Open girls champion but was handed a tough draw at the Pan Pacific Open against Japan’s Uchijima, the world No 57.
The teenager, who found herself a break of serve up in all three sets, had to save five match points in total through the first-round contest before finally succumbing to the sixth.
Three of those match points were saved in the second set as Stojsavljevic battled back to force a decider, taking the tie-break 9-7.
The Briton then raced out of the blocks and into a 5-2 lead in the third set, before she was broken, crucially, when serving for the match, with Uchijima going on to take the deciding tie-break and the match in just under three hours on court.
Had she won, Stojsavljevic would have risen almost 200 places in the WTA rankings and secured a second-round meeting with top seed and Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng.
What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
- Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27)
- Hong Kong Tennis Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Jiangxi Open – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Merida Open Akron – WTA 250 (October 28 – November 3)
- Rolex Paris Masters – ATP 1000 (October 28 – November 3)
Sky Sports shows live coverage of ATP and WTA Tennis tournaments throughout the year. Get instant access to live tennis and more sports with NOW.
