Nottingham Open 2023: Jodie Burrage and Katie Boulter impress to reach first WTA semi-finals

Britain’s Jodie Burrage and Katie Boulter gained impressive wins to move into the Nottingham Open semi-finals.

It is the first time Burrage and Boulter have reached WTA semi-finals.

Boulter will face either another Briton in Heather Watson or Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic, while Andy Murray plays in the men’s quarters later on.

‘Really positive for British players’

“I feel I’ve worked so hard for this moment and overcame some tough times,” said British number one Boulter.

“You could see how much it meant to get through after a really tough battle. It shows how far we have come.

“There’s talk in the press about the next player coming up but I think we’ve shown this week there’s a lot of depth in British tennis.

“Hopefully we can keep looking at that and look for the positives because it’s been really positive for British players.”

Boulter, 26, became British number one for the first time earlier this week, replacing the injured Emma Raducanu, and needed to defeat Dart to have a chance of keeping the position for another week.

Two early breaks of serve gave Boulter a 4-1 lead on her way to taking the first set, before she broke Dart’s serve in the sixth game of the second.

Dart needed medical treatment on an injury to her right hamstring and was doing stretching exercises in between points, yet managed to break Boulter’s serve.

However, after being unable to convert five match points, Boulter won to move into the final four.

There was tension between the two players at the end of the match, before they shook hands.

As she was walking towards the net, Boulter, while looking in the direction of her coaching staff, tapped her head twice.

Dart called the gesture ‘unprofessional’ and said: “I know you are doing that towards me.”

Boulter replied by saying: “It’s not, it’s nothing personal, I do it every single match.”

Then in her post-match interview Boulter added: “It’s awful playing a friend, she is such a tough competitor.

“I tried to play the ball, not the player and today it went my way but on another day it might not, so credit to her.”