Katie Boulter loses Birmingham opener to Lin Zhu as Ons Jabeur's Berlin title defence ends in first round

Katie Boulter suffered an early exit at the Birmingham Open two days after clinching the Nottingham title, while there was a shock in Berlin as defending champion Ons Jabeur crashed out. Fresh from winning her first career WTA title on Sunday, Boulter suffered a disappointing first-round exit to Lin Zhu. Ad The British No.

1 lost 7-5 7-5 to the world No. 39, despite hinting at a comeback when she broke her Chinese opponent in the second set to edge ahead at 4-3. WTA NottinghamBoulter powers past Burrage in Nottingham Open final to claim first WTA title18/06/2023 AT 14:38 Boulter was broken six times over two sets as any hopes of securing back-to-back titles came to a sudden halt.

The second seed in Birmingham, Jelena Ostapenko, battled through her opening clash with Linda Noskova by winning 6-2 5-7 6-1. She will now face Venus Williams in a blockbuster second-round battle. Alcaraz survives scare to beat Rinderknech in three sets at Queen's Swiatek 'open-minded' about grass season, expects to be 'uncomfortable' Exclusive: Tsitsipas feels 'extremely blessed' to be in 'wonderful' Badosa relationship In Berlin, fourth seed and reigning champion Jabeur suffered a shock early exit to qualifier Jule Niemeier, losing 7-6(4) 6-4 in the first round.

The German, playing in front of a home crowd, edged a first set tie-break and earned three breaks to Jabeur’s two overall to earn her third career top-10 win. Niemeier showed her grass-court credentials by reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year, but hadn’t won a WTA main-draw match since Madrid in May ahead of her clash with Jabeur. The world No.