Boulter ends 4-year title wait, history-making Fruhvirtova wins again
Katie Boulter ended a near four-year wait for silverware on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W60 Grenoble, defeating Russian Anna Blinkova for her fifth professional singles title and second at W60 level.
The 25-year-old Brit capped a fine week that took in wins over former Top 70 players Stefanie Voegele, Martina Trevisan and Tatjana Maria with a 7-6(2) 6-7(6) 6-2 triumph over 23-year-old Russian Blinkova, who was also going for her fifth pro title.
“Anyone who’s been with me on this journey will know how much this one meant to me,” Boulter, who has had an injury-affected few years on the Tour, posted on twitter.
“Grateful for the amazing people who are around me that keep me going.”
Anyone who’s been with me on this journey will know how much this one meant to me ♥️ 🏆 Grateful for the amazing people who are around me that keep me going 🥰 pic.twitter.com/OOe9d0rhCT
— Katie Boulter (@katiecboulter) February 13, 2022
Meanwhile, Brenda Fruhvirtova continued to perform to a level far beyond her tender years, winning her 10th straight match on Argentine soil at W25 Tucuman to become the first 14-year-old in ITF World Tennis Tour history to win back-to-back singles titles in consecutive weeks.
Anna Kournikova (February 1996 and March 1996) and Timea Bacsinszky (in August 2004 and April 2004) are the only other players to have won successive ITF tournaments that they entered (in non-consecutive weeks) while still aged just 14.
The young Czech defeated Paula Ormaechea 6-3 1-6 6-4 in the title match to improve her remarkable professional win-loss record to 14-2.
Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Briton Talia Neilson Gatenby also enjoyed a breakthrough after reaching the final as a wild card at W25 Birmingham on just her second ITF tournament appearance.
Neilson Gatenby, who had lost in the first round on her only other professional appearance as a qualifier at W25 Loughborough last month, narrowly missed out on a fairytale finish to her main draw debut after falling to fellow Brit and 20-year-old Sonay Kartal 5-7 6-3 6-2.
Kristina Dmitruk, the 2021 US Open junior runner-up, was also a notable winner over the weekend, claiming her maiden ITF singles title at W15 Monastir.
The 18-year-old Bulgarian, who had lost six of her last seven matches on the ITF World Tennis Tour dating back to a run to the W15 Shymkent final last May, turned the corner by winning the title without dropping a set, overcoming Swiss Valentina Ryser in the final.
Catch up on all of the weekend’s results on the women’s ITF World Tennis Tour here