Katie Boulter stunned American teenager Coco Gauff to continue her strong start to 2021 ahead of next week’s Australian Open.
Boulter had dropped to No371 in the world following a long-term back problem and chronic fatigue but showed no fitness issues as she beat the No14 seed Gauff 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of the Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne.
And Boulter said she was confident her health issues were a thing of the past. She said: “I am as strong as I have ever been physically. And mentally I feel like I’m in a great place after that very difficult time. It gives me a lot of faith I can get back to being No82 and then push on from there.”
On a strong day for the Brits, Johanna Konta, who had a bye into the second round and has had her own fitness issues with a knee complaint, enjoyed a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory over Bernarda Pera.
Of the knee complaint, the British No1 said: “My management of it continues to get better and better, and I’m still very hopeful that I’ll get to a point where I will be pain free at some point.”
Heather Watson, one of the players to face the hard two-week quarantine in her hotel room, plays competitively for the first time this year on Wednesday in the Grampians Trophy.
And the world No58 said she was unclear how she would fare. “It’s obviously unusual circumstances, so it will be interesting to see how my body is. I’ll just see how it goes, I’m not really putting a lot of pressure on myself for the tournament. It’s a really unique situation so I’ve got to sort of play it by ear, play it day by day.”
