Lexus Nottingham Open 2025: Katie Boulter comes through rollercoaster second round against Sonay Kartal

With her chances of the ‘three-peat’ fading Boulter summoned her best level again on the court where she’s had some of the best results of her career. Now drilling her groundstrokes off both wings and putting the pressure on Kartal to see out what would have been a huge win, Boulter overturned the break and wrestled momentum in her favour.

Boulter missed two match point opportunities with Kartal serving at 5-4, but on the third chance two games later, Kartal fired a forehand long to wrap up an epic match between two brilliant competitors.

The 28-year-old improves on her undefeated record against fellow British players at Nottingham – winning eight of eight meetings with Brits. After the match, Boulter was full of praise for her teammate and friend.

“I have so much respect for Sonay, she’s such a tough competitor and I know she’s never going to give me anything at any point,” Boulter said. “I knew I was going to have to play my best tennis and I’m sure she’s going to be back here winning so many more matches. She’s such a great player and a great human as well – I’ve got so much admiration for her.”

For Kartal, while it’s a disappointing loss, it shows how far she’s come in the last 12 months, where now she’s one of three British players ranked inside the WTA top 50.

Now with more experience against the best players, competing on the big stages, the British No.3 is excited for what’s still left to come over the grass court season.

“It’s tough when you lose a match like that with the lead I had in the third set,” Kartal said. “I think we both played a pretty good match, in the first set she served unbelievably. I have a huge amount of respect with Katie, she’s been really good with me as I’ve moved up the rankings.

“I’m excited to play Eastbourne next week – it’s a tournament I’ve wanted to play the last few years but schedule wise it hasn’t worked out. I’m excited to play my home event and one I always went to as a kid.

“I’m going into Wimbledon super confident. I feel like I’m in a better place than I was last year, my games improved and I’m handling situations better.”

In the quarter-finals, Boulter will play American McCartney Kessler for a spot in Saturday’s final four.

Kessler has been one of the stand out performers this week – knocking out 2022 champion and top seed Beatriz Haddad Maia in round one, before dispatching Lin Zhu in straight sets earlier today. This will be the first meeting between the pair.

Elsewhere, British wild card Mimi Xu bowed out in the second round to world No.31 Magda Linette in the second round – read more here.

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