The Progress Tour Women’s Championships was due to feature five of the top eight female tennis players in Britain: Heather Watson, Katie Boulter (based on her protected ranking of 85), Harriet Dart, Katie Swan and Jodie Burrage.
Unfortunately, Watson and Dart pulled out to injury on the eve of the tournament at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. Then Swan retired due to a hip problem in the second set of her opening match.
These withdrawals robbed the event of three of its most recognisable players, which probably made it harder to persuade members of the British public to tune in and watch it on BBC Sport’s online platform.
Despite this significant setback, those who did watch The Progress Tour Women’s Championships were treated to some excellent tennis – particularly from Boulter and Burrage.
Boulter makes strong return to action
When Watson and Dart withdrew, the pressure shifted to Boulter as she became the favourite to win the event.
However, it did not seem to affect at any point as she won all five of her matches to claim the title and maintained a calm demeanour on court throughout.
The sentiments Boulter expressed after she beat Burrage in the final may go some way to explaining why she was so composed.
“Just to get my body through five matches is a huge bonus for me,” the Brit said. “That was my aim for this week and I felt like I’ve done that.”
Understandably, Boulter prioritised improvement of her fitness and match sharpness above results. However, she was pleased to claim the title too.
“I’m very happy to get the win,” the Brit said in her on-court interview. “There’s been some good tennis and bad tennis, but sometimes you’ve just got to find a way and I felt like I did that today.”
Boulter v Burrage provides great entertainment
Arguably, Boulter produced her best tennis of the week during her final group match. In an entertaining encounter with Burrage, she won the first set 6-3 before holding off a superb fightback from her younger opponent to win the second set 7-6(5).
Before that, Boulter performed well during comfortable straight-sets wins over World No.797 Alice Gillan and World No.954 Emily Arbuthnott. And her steady improvement from match to match set her up well for the challenge of facing Burrage.
However, both Boulter and Burrage were suffering physically by the time the semi-finals came around. Consequently, their performances declined, and the Leicester-born Brit was unhappy with the way she played in her win over Freya Christie.
“I don’t think it was our best level,” Boulter said in her post-match interview. “I think I’m going to have to up my game tomorrow because that wasn’t very good. But I got the win so that’s all that counts.”
The final was a similar story. The Brit, 23, did not perform particularly well but she hung in and fought back to beat Burrage 3-6 7-6(4) 6-2. And, although Boulter did not play as well as she would have liked in her last two matches, it was still an excellent week for her.
Burrage hints at bright future
While Boulter is very familiar to British tennis fans, Burrage is far less well-known. However, that may soon be about to change because her performances at The Progress Tour Women’s Championships suggest she has a lot of potential.
The Brit, 21, started the week in ideal fashion as she showed off her full array of powerful groundstrokes during comprehensive straight-set wins over Arbuthnott and Gillan.
Burrage followed up those results with a superb display of hitting during the second set of her group match against Boulter. She led 3-0 and should have gone on to level the match. When she gains more experience, she will probably learn to do exactly that.
After the Brit beat World No.569 Alicia Barnett 6-4 6-2 in the last four, she then produced some more high-class tennis to put herself in a position to serve for championship at 6-3 6-5 up against Boulter in the final.
Although Burrage faltered once again and lost her serve as well as the match, she will have undoubtedly impressed those who watched her. If she continues to improve, she can look forward to a very bright future.
