British No 1 Katie Boulter has advanced to the last 16 of the Ningbo Open after defeating Italy’s Sara Errani in straight sets. Despite a dip in form since the grass-court season, Boulter overcame seven double faults and a rain delay to secure a dominant victory over her veteran opponent. The match was interrupted by heavy rain, but Boulter managed to maintain her composure and take control, winning the first set 6-3. She then broke Errani early in the second set and went on to secure a commanding 4-0 lead. Although she faced some resistance when serving for the set at 5-1, Boulter quickly regained her momentum and closed out the match with another break of serve.
In her next match, Boulter will face Brazilian player Beatriz Haddad Maia for a spot in the quarter-finals. Notably, two of the top three seeds in Ningbo have already withdrawn from the tournament: Jasmine Paolini and Emma Navarro.
Meanwhile, former British No 1 Cameron Norrie made his return to main tour action at the Nordic Open in Stockholm after being sidelined with a forearm injury that forced him to miss both the Olympics and US Open. Unfortunately for Norrie, he was unable to prolong his stay as he suffered a first-round defeat against Serbian player Miomir Kecmanovic.
On a more positive note for British players, Jacob Fearnley secured his place in round two with an impressive win over France’s Corentin Moutet. Fearnley recently broke into the top 100 rankings following successful performances on both college circuits and Challenger Tour events.
In other tennis news, Harriet Dart emerged victorious after an emotional three-hour battle against Laura Siegemund at Japan Open. Dart rallied back from losing the first set to claim victory by winning both tight second and third sets.
Looking ahead on Sky Sports Tennis this month: Almaty Open (Kazakhstan), Stockholm Open (Sweden), European Open (Antwerp), Japan Open (Osaka), Ningbo Open (China), Erste Bank Open (Vienna), Swiss Indoors (Basel), Guangzhou Open (China), Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis (Tokyo).