Katie Boulter upsets Maria Sakkari at the Tianjin Open in China
Tuesday 9 October 2018 13:27, UK
Britain's Katie Boulter upset eighth seed Maria Sakkari to reach the second round of the Tianjin Open with a straight-sets victory.
The unseeded 22-year-old progressed 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 against the world No 42 in China to set up a meeting with Barbora Krejcikova in the last 16 after the Czech qualifier progressed due to the retirement of Ukraine's Kateryna Kozlova in their first-round meeting.
With her match against Sakkari on serve, Boulter had the first opportunity of a breakthrough but failed to capitalise on four break points during the seventh game of a tight opening set.
Four successive breaks of serve, two for each player, led to a tense tie-break and Boulter held her nerve to put herself in control.
The world No 101 backed it up by breaking the Greek during her opening service game of the second set and then squandered a break point to go 4-0 up.
Sakkari twice moved to within two games of her opponent but Boulter served confidently and made the most of her second match point.
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