The Birmingham Classic saw British No. 1 Katie Boulter lose in the opening round, only two days after she won her first WTA Tour championship.
Following her impressive victory at the Nottingham Open, Boulter was defeated by China’s Zhu Lin 7-5, 7-5.
Before Wimbledon, which starts on July 3, several British grass-court competitions are set to run, and Birmingham is one of them.
As Zhu advanced to a first-set victory in Birmingham, Boulter complained to the umpire about certain shots she believed to be long but were not called out.
In the second set, she promptly met Zhu’s serve, and despite the 39th-ranked Zhu breaking back right away, Boulter went on to win 12 of the next 13 games to move from 3-1 down to 4-3 up.
In other tennis news, world no. 49 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic was defeated by second seed Jelena Ostapenko, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Venus Williams, who defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi in a heartbreaking three-set match on Monday, will play the Latvian in the following round., while Romania’s Sorana Cirstea advanced as well after defeating fellow Romanian Ana Bogdan 6-4 2-6 6-3.
