Katie Boulter, the British No 1, admitted she was hoping to avoid having to play her Australian fiance, Alex de Minaur, after leading Great Britain to victory over Argentina in the United Cup.
Boulter teamed up with Charlie Broom to clinch the tie in Sydney with a 7-6 (4), 7-5 win over Tomás Martín Etcheverry and María Lourdes Carlé in the decisive mixed doubles rubber.
With their first victory, Britain will now shift their attention to their tussle with Australia on Wednesday. The Australian team is led by De Minaur and also boasts Matt Ebden, the men’s doubles Olympic gold medallist, meaning Boulter is unlikely to compete directly against her fiance. Still, both are determined to gain bragging rights from the tie and, on Monday, De Minaur was courtside as Boulter sealed her win.
“I don’t know about having a match against him, I think that’s going to be terrible, and a bit of a popcorn match,” Boulter said. “But yeah, let’s hope we don’t reach there and we win before.
“It’s a tough situation. He was smiling when I came off the court because we kept them in it, so he’s happy. I’m just looking forward to a battle. I don’t know what’s going to happen on the day. I just have to keep my head down and try not to think too much about it, but we’re both going to be fighting for it. We both want it. We both are competitive.”
Boulter had started the day with a solid singles performance, defeating Nadia Podoroska 6-2, 6-3 before Etcheverry took Argentina’s only point with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over a solid Billy Harris, who was playing in place of the injured Jack Draper. The 28-year-old Boulter said she was happy to begin the season strongly after securing the result for Britain in the final rubber.
“I really enjoyed my time on court today,” Boulter said. “I love playing doubles. I really don’t get that much chance to play. I feel like I can relax and play my game and enjoy it even more than the singles, but obviously I’m very happy to get through my first singles win. It’s never easy at the start of a season.
“I’ve been playing some really good stuff in practice this week. Obviously it’s not always [easy] to translate back on to the match court. I felt like I did that pretty well. I’ve got a long way to go and I’ve got a lot to bring this year, but it was a good start. Yeah, I’m happy with it.”
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan reached the quarter-finals of the mixed team tournament with a comfortable win over Greece in Perth, as Elena Rybakina defeated Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-3 after Alexander Shevchenko stunned Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Former Wimbledon champion Rybakina, who is using the 18-nation tournament to prepare for next month’s Australian Open, edged a tight opening set against Sakkari before powering 5-0 ahead in the next. She was broken late on but stayed composed to close out the contest on serve, leaving her new coach, Goran Ivanisevic, beaming in the dugout.
“We’ve just been working a couple weeks together. This is our first official tournament,” Rybakina said. “We’re still getting to know each other a bit. He’s a fun guy. He gives some experience from when he played and also as a coach. I’m just happy to work with him. Hopefully we’ll have some good results together.”
Shevchenko pulled off a major upset when he downed an ill and error-prone Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6 (0) to put Kazakhstan on course for victory. “It will definitely go in my record as one of my best wins,” Shevchenko said of defeating the world No 11. “He wasn’t at his best today but still I played really well and I found the moments to win the match.”
The women’s world No 2, Iga Swiatek, will be in action when Poland face Norway in Group B, while the defending champions, Germany, meet China in Group E.
