By Uche Amako
The local girl comes good. At her home tournament, where she grew up playing, Katie Boulter made history as she won the first WTA final between two Britons since Sue Barker and Virginia Wade in 1977.
Whenever the grass-court season rolls around and Wimbledon is on the horizon, British players come out of the wilderness and seem to gather strength from the surge of pollen in the air.
This week, four reached the quarter-finals with Boulter and Jodie Burrage ultimately making it through to a “Battle of Britain” final. Alongside the bragging rights for the winner, a maiden tour title and the British No 1 ranking were also up for grabs in Nottingham.
An early sign of Boulter’s confidence came when she won the coin toss and made Burrage serve first before blasting a backhand return winner down the line on the opening point. It was a real statement of intent from Boulter and she duly broke Burrage’s serve.
The pair are good friends and the familiarity with each other’s games benefitted Boulter more as she overwhelmed Burrage with power from the baseline and secured a double break to move 4-1 ahead.
Serving for the set at 5-2, Boulter blinked for the first time and that allowed Burrage to retrieve one of the breaks back, but in the very next game the set was over as Boulter broke for the third time with a forehand winner on the run.
The crowd, who had watched Andy Murray win his final against Arthur Cazaux earlier in the day, tried to get behind Burrage but Boulter was in no mood to give up her momentum and broke to lead 2-0 in the second set.
Injuries have slowed Boulter’s progress and her potential has so far been unfulfilled. However, with her mother and grandfather watching in the stands, the 26-year-old from Leicester was coolness personified as she saved a break point at 3-1 with a cross-court backhand winner.
Serving for the title at 5-3, Boulter had a little wobble as she hit her first double fault of the match and on her first championship point pushed a backhand into the tramlines.
But her dream week was eventually confirmed when Burrage sent one more return long and Boulter raised both hands in the air in delight before the pair embraced at the net.
“I actually found some photos of me at the beginning of the week where I was training here as a ‘tiny topper’ and I looked so happy and like I was having the time of my life,” Boulter said. “I tried to remind myself before the final, that little girl still loves playing tennis and just enjoys every single moment she is out on court. I am very proud of myself to be in that position, whatever happened.
“I have so many special feelings, I am staying at home, mum’s cooking makes all the difference. It does feel very special because it is my home tournament.
“I dreamt of this moment, to win this tournament, as a little girl when I was four years old. Having come here as a fan and now as a player and somehow finding a way to win it means more than everything to me.”
With victory, Boulter will jump up to 77 in the world rankings and while she will not be seeded for Wimbledon – beginning July 3 – she is a tough first-round match-up for anyone.
“I’m at a career high and really happy but not content and have a long way to go,” she said. “My aim is not to be top 100, it’s to be 50, 40, 30 and ever since I broke through the first time I believed I had the game to become that player and that will always be my main focus.
“Hopefully I can find some consistency and make this week in, week out. My challenge is to find consistency and I’m proud to have brought that this week.
“I played lights-out today and went for the title, wanted that trophy, and told myself I had to back myself to win it. I will be sleeping with my trophy tonight and it’s nice to have some reward that I can look back on. Next week will be about resetting and I will be ready for Birmingham – that’s my job.”
Burrage has had some long matches this week and, after a recent injury, said she was “hanging by a thread” physically, but she is also taking the positives.
“A bit gutted today, a tough, tough match,” she said. “Boults played absolutely incredibly so credit to her. For me this has been such a positive week.
“I have beaten some really good players, proved some things to myself, so I will only take the positives.
“I will take positives from this and confidence from it and hopefully play some good tennis in the coming months.”