‘Empty tank’: Katie Boulter outgunned by Diana Shnaider in Hong Kong final | Katie Boulter | The Guardian

Nov 04, 2024

Katie Boulter’s strong run in Hong Kong came to a brutal end on Sunday when she was thoroughly outplayed in the final by the top seed, Diana Shnaider, who dismantled the ­British No 1 player 6-1, 6-2 to win her fourth WTA title of the season.

Boulter, the second seed, was ­outgunned from the beginning by Shnaider, a strong left-hander with a heavy forehand. As Shnaider ­continually took the first strike and forced Boulter into ­uncomfortable positions around the court, she exposed the ­vulnerable points of Boulter’s game. The Briton overpressed, she lost confidence in her serve and she had no alternative plan against a relentless opponent.

Having won four titles this year, Shnaider, who is Russian, continues to establish herself as one of the most promising young players on the tour. From her ranking of No 108 in ­January this year, she will rise to a career high of No 12.

A month younger than Coco Gauff, the 20-year-old Shnaider is now the youngest player inside the top 15. Most of her best results have come at the smaller WTA events, however, meaning the next step in her career will be to perform consistently well at the biggest tournaments in the world.

Despite ending her season with such a one-sided defeat, the past two weeks have marked significant progress for Boulter. After struggling in the second half of the year, her decision to play an extended swing in Asia, while other top‑30 players opted to return home, was an ­excellent choice and she rebounded with a semi-final appearance in Tokyo, a WTA 500 event, and then a final in Hong Kong, which is a WTA 250 event.

On the second day of the WTA Finals, the second seed Iga Swiatek (pictured) began her title defence with a gritty 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 win over Barbora Krejcikova, the Wimbledon champion and eighth seed. In her first match since hiring Wim Fisette as her coach, Swiatek had trailed 4-6, 0-3 before gradually working her way into the contest. After forcing a final set, Swiatek took full control of the baseline as she confidently closed out an excellent win.Later on Sunday, the third seed Coco Gauff started with an extremely solid performance as she outplayed her good friend Jessica Pegula, the sixth seed, 6-3, 6-2. In Paris, meanwhile, the third seed Alexander Zverev won his seventh ATP Masters 1000 title with a dominant 6-2, 6-2 win over the surprise French finalist Ugo Humbert. Tumaini Carayol

After the final, Boulter admitted that she was feeling fatigued. “I’d be worried if I was on week seven in Asia at the very end of a season and I didn’t have an empty tank,” she said.

“It means I’ve been doing ­something wrong all year round. I came out here and I wanted to push myself, playing this tournament and just to play more weeks in a row. It’s not something I do very often, ­especially body-wise, [but] I’m here with a strong body.

“An empty tank, but I’m happy because I pushed my boundaries this week. That is what will make me stronger and tougher as a tennis player and hopefully, if I’m trying to reach higher ranking points, then it’s going to take me to those places.”

As a result of those performances, Boulter will end by far the best ­season of her life at a career-high ranking of No 23, a remarkable achievement for a 28-year-old who has spent most of her career outside of the top 100. ­Better performances at the bigger events could help to push Boulter into the top 20 next year but considering simply maintaining her position inside the top 30 will be challenging, the 358 points she has gained in the past two weeks could be very helpful.

“At the start of the year, I started so strong, I put myself in a place where I probably hadn’t got any experience in,” Boulter said. “I felt like I had to adjust a little bit, trying to get used to that, adjust my goals again because I already had specific goals that I wanted to reach all year round but I did those quite quickly.

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“For me, it’s going to be super important to reset the mind, another career high going into Monday. I’m going to have to push for some [new] goals.

I’ve got some goals in mind but I think they’re going to stick with my team. I’m really excited to really push on next year, I’ve got big hopes and I’m going all in.”

Although her individual season is over, Boulter still has one more ­tournament to play in 2024.

She will lead the Great Britain team at the ­Billie Jean King Cup Finals in ­Málaga, where they will face ­Germany on 15 November.