‘You are a joke!’: Katie Boulter joins Alex de Minaur in title town ... again

The WTA's British No. 1 successfully retained her Nottingham crown by completing double duty Sunday.

Published Jun 16, 2024

MATCH POINT: Alex de Minaur holds off Sebastian Korda (and rain) to win 's-Hertogenbosch

Alex de Minaur couldn’t catch a flight in time to see Katie Boulter’s latest WTA triumph.

Hours after the Australian won the ATP grass-court title in 's-Hertogenbosch, his partner-in-crime Boulter completed a Sunday to remember by successfully retaining her WTA Nottingham crown.

A native of nearby Leicester, the British No. 1 first had to overcome countrywoman Emma Raducanu in a carried-over semifinal. The former US Open champion had saved three set points to claim a gripping tiebreak Saturday before play was halted.

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While Boulter won't move up in the rankings, she's held onto a Wimbledon seeding by not dropping any points.

Upon resumption, Boulter soon leveled and then survived a dramatic finish that saw the two competitors trade five successive breaks—a streak that tipped in favor of the 27-year-old to send her back to the final with a 6-7(13), 6-3, 6-4 win.

Boulter later returned to face sixth seed Karolina Pliskova, who also needed to pull double duty with a final-four comeback of her own earlier against France's Diane Parry.

The No. 3 seed ultimately had one last stand in her to prevail, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Boulter won 16 of her 20 second-serve return points across the latter two sets against the former world No. 1.

How did that happen again 🤯🤯🤯🤯 @katiecboulter You are a joke!!! #doubletrouble
— alex de minaur (@alexdeminaur) June 16, 2024

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For the second time this season, Boulter and de Minaur celebrated title runs in the same tournament week. In early March, the 25-year-old memorably caught an early flight the next morning to San Diego following his Acapulco ATP 500 victory to witness Boulter’s triumph—also at the WTA 500 level.

“How did that happen again 🤯🤯🤯🤯 @katiecboulter You are a joke!!! #doubletrouble,” de Minaur wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Boulter joked during her on-court interview that de Minaur had some explaining to do.

“My boyfriend didn’t make the trip even though I thought he might after his win in 's-Hertogenbosch. We will have to be talking about that tonight and see if we’re gonna still be together. I hope he’s listening to this because we’ve got some talking to do.”

The happy couple aren't set for a reunion just quite yet, with Boulter slated to compete in Birmingham and de Minaur headed to London Queen’s.

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