Boulter suffers another early Grand Slam exit

British number one Katie Boulter's hopes of making a deep run at a major for the first time were ended by Russia's Veronika Kudermetova at the Australian Open.

Boulter, seeded 22nd, lost 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 6-2 in the second round to the former world number nine at Melbourne Park.

Making the 15th Grand Slam appearance of her career, 28-year-old Boulter has never gone past the third round.

She served below par and hit too many unforced errors as Kudermetova, now ranked 75th, showed her pedigree.

"Obviously losing a match like that hurts, but I'm someone that's going to keep showing up," said Boulter.

"I'm going to have my moment, I'm sure of it."

Boulter was aiming to become the fourth Briton to reach the last 32 of the singles at the Australian Open this year, which would have been a record for the nation.

Emma Raducanu is the only woman through to the third round after beating Amanda Anisimova earlier on Thursday, while Jack Draper and Jacob Fearnley reached the same stage on Wednesday.

Boulter came into the opening major of the season on the back of a fine 2024 in which she rose into the world's top 25 for the first time.

A deep run at a Grand Slam tournament has continued to elude her, though, despite the benefit of being seeded at the French Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and now the Australian Open.

Before the tournament on the Melbourne hard courts, Boulter talked about "putting more emphasis" on performing well at the sport's most prestigious events.

What looked to be a favourable draw enhanced the opportunity to achieve that.

But she admitted battling past Canada's 98th-ranked Rebecca Marino in the first round was "stressful" and again looked subdued against another player ranked way below her.

"I was thinking straight the whole time. I just don't think I quite played the way that I wanted to play," said Boulter.

Boulter's early exit is even tougher to take considering she arrived at Melbourne Park having started the season well.

Strong showings at the season-opening United Cup included pushing five-time major champion Iga Swiatek in a narrow defeat.

"Last week I'm going toe to toe with Swiatek. Your level doesn't go anywhere from week to week," Boulter added.

"It's just about now being able to transfer that and keep going at it and making it more consistent."

Kudermetova has much superior pedigree than Marino, having climbed into the top 10 for a couple months in late 2022.

Boulter was unable to get into the early rallies as powerful baseliner Kudermetova used the weapons which have served her well in the past to move 5-1 ahead.

But her inconsistency - the reason why she did not stay a top-10 player for long - allowed Boulter back in.

Boulter clawed her way back to 5-4 before Kudermetova called for the physio at the changeover before she served for the set.

A long delay saw Kudermetova lay on the court to receive treatment on what appeared to be her lower back.

While Kudermetova regrouped to dominate the tie-break, Boulter took charge at the start of the second set with a double break for a 4-1 lead, and grew in confidence as she levelled the match.

Pressure continued to be put on Kudermetova's serve in the decider.

Boulter could not convert a break point at 1-1 as her opponent's returning dragged her across the baseline and momentum quickly swung as Kudermetova rattled off the final four games.

"In the third set, if I had taken a deep breath, or taken two seconds to myself, we could have gone the other way," Boulter said.

"It wasn't as one-sided maybe as the score suggests."