Boulter fights back to win biggest title of career in San Diego

British No. 1 Katie Boulter won the biggest title of her career as she fought back to beat sixth seed Marta Kostyuk in the final of the San Diego Open.

Boulter dropped the first set but came through 5-7 6-2 6-2 to claim her first WTA 500 title.

The win moves Boulter up to a career-high No. 27 in the world rankings.

“I don’t know what just happened,” said Boulter, who beat five top-50 players on her way to the title and overcame 13 double faults to win the final.

“This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons. This one is pretty amazing, I’ve worked very hard for it, I played some incredible tennis all week.

“Today was a complete battle, with myself as well, because I was a little bit nervous. But I managed to get over the line, and that I’m very proud of.

“A lot of it was about me staying as tough as I possibly could mentally, and I managed to keep my cool and actually kind of went within myself and calmed myself down a lot.

“I think that really helped me, and then I started to relax and play through shots a little bit more.”

She fought back to 5-5, saving five set points, but then double faulted for the sixth time to give Kostyuk the set.

Boulter fired a forehand winner to open up a 3-1 lead in the second set and broke for a third time to move 5-2 ahead.

The British No. 1 closed out the set on serve to level the contest.

Boulter came through a tight service game to start the third set and then broke for a 2-1 lead.

Another break made it 5-2 and Boulter finished strongly with two aces helping her clinch the title.

“I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend,” said Boulter.

“He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him.

“He got on a 4.15am taxi this morning and six o’clock flight to be here today so I do appreciate it.”

Boulter will next head to the WTA 1000 in Indian Wells, where the main draw starts on Wednesday, March 6.

Heather Watson lost to Rebeka Masarova in the first round of qualifying for Indian Wells.

Watson was beaten 3-6 6-4 6-4 by the world No. 96.

Harriet Dart starts her qualifying bid against Darja Semenistaja on Monday evening.