Katie Boulter admits she ‘lost a lot of sleep’ at the prospect of facing her new fiance Alex De Minaur on court – as she leads Great Britain to quarter-finals of United Cup
- Katie Boulter secured Britain’s place in the quarter-finals of the United Cup
- Boulter won the all-important match against Alex De Minaur’s Australian team
Katie Boulter booked Great Britain’s place in the quarter-finals of the United Cup with victory over Australia’s Olivia Gadecki.
After their victory over Argentina in the team competition on Monday, Great Britain knew that one straight sets success from three rubbers would be enough to see them top the group.
Boulter recorded a dominant 6-2 6-1 victory against 97th-ranked Gadecki in Sydney.
The draw pitted newly engaged Boulter against fiance Alex De Minaur, Australia’s number one player, and she said in her on-pitch interview: ‘I’m very happy to start my new year like this.
“I feel like I’ve lost a lot of sleep lately thinking about playing doubles against my fiancée, so I’m so tired and just really happy to be through this rubber.”
De Minaur later defeated Billy Harris in the men’s singles in straight sets.
Katie Boulter admitted she ‘lost a lot of sleep’ at the prospect of meeting Alex De Minaur
The pair, who recently got engaged, played against each other in the United Cup tournament
Boulter helped lead Great Britain to the quarter-finals after beating Olivia Gadecki in the singles
Although Boulter will participate in the mixed doubles, De Minaur will not, meaning the pair will not play against each other.
Boulter will instead play with Charles Broom against Ellen Perez and Matthew Ebden, but the result will have no impact on GB’s progression, where they will face Italy in the quarter-finals.
Earlier, Kazakhstan became the first team to reach the semi-finals thanks to a 2-1 victory over Germany.
World number two Alexander Zverev could be a doubt for the Australian Open after withdrawing with an arm injury.
He was replaced by Daniel Masur, who lost 6-7 (5) 6-2 6-2 to Alexander Shevchenko after Elena Rybakina comfortably defeated Laura Siegemund, with Germany winning a consolation double.
Iga Swiatek has started the year strongly, winning two more games for Poland in the 2-1 win over the Czech Republic.
The world number two defeated Karolina Muchova 6-3 6-4 and then teamed up with Hubert Hurkacz for a 7-6 (3) 6-3 mixed doubles victory against Muchova and Tomas Machac, who Hurkacz previously played in the singles had defeated.