Elena Rybakina was inches away from finding herself in a three-set battle with Katie Boulter but avoided that with a big run late in the second set to complete a 6-0 7-5 Indian Wells third-round win.
Early in the match, the 38th-ranked Briton missed out on game points in her opening two service games and she paid a heavy price and ended up bageled in the first set.
After losing her serve three times in the opener, Boulter stabilized and went through her first three service games of the second set without facing any break points. Then, she also earned and realized her first break point in the seventh game to go 4-3 up before also serving out the next game for a 5-3 lead.
But when the time came for the British tennis player to close out the second set, Rybakina stepped up and won a lengthy 10th game to tie the set to five games apiece. Failing to serve out for the second evidently mentally impacted the world No. 38 as the Kazakh easily won the 11th game before breaking the Briton again in the 12th game to complete a two-set win.
In the Indian Wells round-of-16, Rybakina will battle against either No. 9 seed Mirra Andreeva or 22nd-seeded Clara Tauson.
Boulter didn’t have big expectations for the Rybakina match
The Briton, who was ousted 1-6 1-6 by the Kazakh in their 2023 Wimbledon meeting, said before their Indian Wells clash that she didn’t have anything to lose.
“I’ve got absolutely nothing to lose. I was playing some of my best tennis and I’m pretty sure she absolutely kicked me off the court last time I played her. I’ve got no expectations,” Boulter said before the match.
“I’m just coming back from injury. The biggest win is getting through a match and then playing back-to-back matches is a dream for me right now for my body. So very happy. We’ll see what we can do.”
Tennis World USA