Brit No 1 Katie Boulter crashes out of Australian Open second round to extend her barren Grand Slam record – despite fiance Alex De Minaur dashing across to watch after his own win
- Despite strong form, Boulter has yet to reach the third round of a major
Katie Boulter’s barren run in the Grand Slam arena continues after losing in the second round of the Australian Open.
The No. 22 was defeated 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 by Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova and has yet to progress past the third round in a major.
For a player with her quality and ball-striking ability, that is not good enough and she knows it. Boulter has vowed to prioritize the Slams this year, but she will have to wait until May and the French Open before she can make a comeback.
She was being watched on Court 3 by fiancé Alex de Minaur. Their first round matches overlapped, so De Minaur only had a chance to sneak in the last few matches. This time rounding off his 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Tristan Boyer, he was in the Boulter box from the start, incognito in a black cap and hoodie, sitting between his future mother-in-law Susan and the coach of Boulter. Biljana Veselinovic.
On paper, this looked like a fairly easy second-round draw against the world number 75, who before this week had not won a Grand Slam match since Wimbledon 2023.
But Kudermatova is a former world No. 9 and her potential remains high. She hit 80 percent of her first serves in the first half of the opening set and led 5-2.
Boulter saved three set points and then secured a backhand return down the line to make up for one of two breaks, and on the next change Kudermetova called for the trainer, indicating pain in her chest.
Boulter took the opportunity to have a chat with Veselinovic and land a few serves, and when she broke comfortably for 5-5 she looked ready to take the set. But Kudermetova recovered and played a flawless tiebreak.
It is difficult to determine what trouble Kudermetova may have felt, but she dropped a little and, as if on the other side of a see-saw, Boulter’s level rose.
Early in the third set she had a break point that could have been decisive. Kudermetova, who had calmed down quite a bit, started to lash out and Boulter had no answers left.