Katie Boulter slipped to a chastening 6-1 6-2 defeat to Russia’s Diana Shnaider in the Hong Kong Open final.
Boulter climbed into the world’s top 25 for the first time after reaching her third WTA Tour final of the season but was no match for her inspired opponent.
Twenty-year-old top seed Shnaider, who was outside the world’s top 100 as recently as January, steamrollered her way to a fourth title of the season, reeling off a catalogue of clean winners against the error-prone Briton.
Boulter lost a tour level final for the first time having won titles in San Diego and Nottingham this year and she reflected on a hugely successful season.
She said: “First of all I’d like to congratulate Diana for her win, what an incredible week, what an incredible season, you deserve every minute of it. I’m very happy, but you absolutely killed me today. I’ll get you next time!
“I’ve got to say a massive thank you to my team, half of you are here, half of you are on the TV. You guys push me everyday to try and be better and I’m sure I can bounce back from this one, but what a season we’ve had, thank you.”
Boulter lost her first service game of the match to quickly fall 2-0 behind and was broken twice more in the opening set, which Shnaider wrapped up in 37 minutes.
The British No 1 showed little of the steely focus on show in her semi-final win against China’s Yuan Yue, which guaranteed she will climb to 23rd in the rankings on Monday.
Second seed Boulter made just 59 per cent of her first serves in the opening set, making 10 unforced errors and there was little improvement in the second as Shnaider maintained her dominance.
Shnaider, who began the day as world number 14, broke Boulter twice more to race into a 4-0 lead. Boulter held serve in the fifth game to avoid a second-set bagel and made it 5-2 after holding again, but left-hander Shnaider then served out for victory in one hour and 11 minutes.
