Katie Boulter Fights Back to Reach Japan Open Semi-Finals and Reclaim British No. 1
Katie Boulter came back from a set and a break down to beat Antonia Ruzic 3-6 6-3 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open in Osaka on Friday, 23 October. The win sends her into the semi-finals and back to the top of British women's tennis.
Ruzic, ranked world number 91, took the first set and led by a break of serve, which means she had won the game in which Boulter was serving and was ahead overall. Boulter, ranked world number 58 going into the match, had to hold her nerve. She did. The match lasted two hours, and the final two sets went her way 6-3 and 6-3.
The result matters beyond Osaka. Boulter had been dethroned as British number one on Monday, after Sonay Kartal reached the final in Wuhan. Ranking points, the tally that decides where players sit on the list, are what drive that race. Boulter had trailed Kartal by 55 points. Reaching the last four has overturned that gap, and BBC Sport reports she will climb above Kartal when the WTA rankings update on Monday, 26 October. The same update should also put her back inside the world's top 50.
Her next opponent is Katerina Siniakova, who is in the other half of the draw and will be Boulter's test in the semi-final. The win is Boulter's first semi-final since Queen's in June, when she also reached that stage at a major event on grass.
Getting here was not straightforward. Earlier in the week she beat Viktorija Golubic in straight sets in under an hour to reach the quarter-finals. Against Ruzic, the swing came after a slow start, as the rally lengths grew and the games went with longer holds on serve.
Boulter first held the British number one spot in June 2023, when she was the 23rd woman to do so since the rankings began, according to the Lawn Tennis Association. Three years on, she has the chance to hold it again, with a semi-final still to play.
For anyone following the rankings, the picture is simple. A few more wins in Osaka would push her points total further up the list, and a win over Siniakova would take her into the final. The next step is to see whether that fightback in the quarter-final is the start of a longer run.
