Katie Boulter strode to the baseline on Sunday for one of the most important matches of her career with a considerable amount of pressure on her shoulders. Just a year ago and a little over 100 miles away, Leylah Fernandez had inspired her Canadian team to their first Billie Jean King Cup triumph in Seville. Now, in order to extend her own team’s supreme run, Boulter had to take out one member of the defending champions.
In this special final week of her greatest season, Boulter spectacularly rose to the occasion once more as she brushed Fernandez aside 6-2, 6-4 to lead Great Britain into the semi-finals of the BJK Cup with a commanding 2-0 victory.
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As was the case during Friday’s excellent 2-0 last-16 win over Germany, Emma Raducanu set the bar sky high earlier on Sunday by delivering the first point for Britain with a brilliant performance as she held off a late surge from Rebecca Marino to close out a 6-0, 7-5 win.
“Emma makes it very easy to come out here and have a swing at it by starting 1-0 up,” said Boulter. “Full credit to her for starting us off so well. I’m really proud of my performance today. I just wanted to come out here, have a go at the defending champs and hopefully get a big win. I’m really pleased with myself.”
While Raducanu’s BJK Cup record now stands at an immense 5-1, Boulter is now 14-4 in both singles and doubles. Great Britain’s leading players have both consistently played some of their best tennis while representing their country and, as a result of their efforts, they will face Slovakia on Tuesday for a place in the final. Earlier, Slovakia continued their surprise run by defeating Australia 2-0.
“I’m in a fortunate position to captain an amazing group of people,” Anne Keothavong said.
“I really believe we’ve got a team that can win this competition. We’re not there yet, we’ve still got work to do, but we can enjoy this moment.”
