An hour into her first national team assignment of the season, the forecast for Katie Boulter was grim. Down a set and a break against a cunning opponent, the British No 1 had been junkballed into oblivion and defeat drew near. Her recent difficult form and her lack of confidence in the surface beneath her feet was plain for ll to see.
From that uncomfortable position, Boulter showed her mental fortitude in full as she emerged with a strong 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Tatjana Maria to clinch a 2-1 win for Great Britain over Germany in their opening tie of the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers in the Hague.
Earlier on Friday, Sonay Kartal produced an impressive 6-4, 6-2 win over the world No 120 Jule Niemeier on her BJK Cup debut. The tie concluded with a 6-4, 6-1 win for Laura Siegemund and Anna-Lena Friedsam over Harriet Dart and Olivia Nicholls in the doubles rubber.
Great Britain will now face the Netherlands on Saturday in a match that will determine the group winner and participant in the BJK Cup Finals, which take place in Shenzhen, China in September. The Netherlands defeated Germany 3-0 on Thursday.
The BJK Cup remains an event in flux after the ITF opted to align the tournament with the Davis Cup by reducing the number of teams in its Finals tournament from 12 to eight. As the event shifts to its new format, the finalists will be decided in this clunky three-team group stage before reverting to traditional home and away ties next year.
Despite an unsurprisingly sparse turnout at the indoor clay courts in Sportcampus Zuiderpark for the neutral tie of the week, only a couple hundred fans present, both sets of travelling fans created a solid atmosphere.
The tie began with a significant breakthrough moment for the fast-improving Kartal. Now the British No 3, over the past year the 23-year-old has won her first career WTA title and has established herself as a top 100 player. She further fortified her position among the elite last month by reaching the fourth round in Indian Wells and rising to a new career high of No 60.
In a sport filled with tall, imposing athletes, at 5ft 4in Kartal is a diminutive competitor but she ground down an increasingly erratic Niemeier with her consistency, depth and defensive skills. Kartal also smartly chose her moments to force herself inside the baseline and impose herself with a heavy forehand. With a professional, assured performance, Kartal closed out her first BJK Cup victory.
“I’m so proud to get a debut like that,” said Kartal. “In terms of how up there it is in my career, it’s probably my second biggest achievement [after winning her first match at Wimbledon]. Personally, it’s one that I’ve wanted to get ticked off for a long time.”
There were ample questions surrounding Boulter, who is still finding her form after a foot injury in February and has a tough record on clay, as she entered the court.
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She faced a particularly tricky match-up against Maria, a tour veteran at 37 years old and a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2022, who is well known for her ability to frustrate with her unorthodox style.
From the beginning, the world No 81 made life difficult for Boulter by peppering her with an endless stream of forehand and backhand slices and defending astutely. Forced to generate her own pace on every last shot, Boulter was continually baited into overhitting and her unforced error count rose.
To her credit, Boulter dug deep and she impressively found her way by closing down the net earlier and making some key volleys before ending the match with a supreme exhibition of shotmaking. From 1-6, 2-3 down, Boulter completely overpowered Maria, winning 10 of the final 11 games.
“I pride myself on being a fighter and knowing that I can get myself out of those moments,” said Boulter. “I feel like that’s probably experience. There’s not many times I can count in this competition that I felt like I’ve lost a match convincingly.”
