Boulter and Norrie Knocked Out of China Open in First Round
Great Britain’s Katie Boulter and Cameron Norrie were both knocked out of the China Open after losing in straight sets.
Boulter, Britain’s number two, was beaten 6-1, 6-3 by American star Amanda Anisimova, a finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open. This came after Boulter had a strong first-round win over Hailey Baptiste.
In the men’s draw, Norrie lost 6-3, 6-4 to world number eight Daniil Medvedev in his opening match. Norrie had beaten the Russian earlier this year at the French Open, but couldn’t repeat the result in Beijing.
Boulter had recently helped Great Britain reach the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, with a big win over Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima. That victory had been a boost for her confidence after early exits at both Wimbledon and the US Open.
Norrie, who reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals this year for the first time since 2021, had also suffered a disappointing loss to Novak Djokovic at the US Open, saying afterwards that he had been “overconfident”.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Coco Gauff continued her title defence with a strong 6-4, 6-0 win over Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova. The world number three will next face Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, who also impressed by beating Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-0.
