Katie Boulter will head to Indian Wells seeded and in red-hot form with Laura Robson backing her to crack the top 20 in the world; you can watch Indian Wells live on Sky Sports plus over 80 tournaments a year, including the US Open, exclusively live on Sky Sports Tennis
Tuesday 5 March 2024 16:51, UK
Sky Sports Tennis analyst Laura Robson feels "the sky's the limit" for Katie Boulter after the British No 1 came from behind to win the San Diego Open.
The 27-year-old from Leicester sealed a battling 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory over Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk to earn a second career title.
The win in California gave Boulter her second WTA title, adding to a maiden championship on grass in Nottingham last summer.
She's got a couple of days off before the first round in Indian Wells so she will be physically really fresh and she doesn't have anything to defend, so she's probably thinking top 20 already.
"It was so good," Robson told Sky Sports News. "I was talking to her before the match and she was just excited to go out there and play. When you have that energy going into a final, the nerves aren't kicking in yet, she was thinking about the tactical part of it.
"I think it was a great match-up for her against Marta Kostyuk because she gets so much power, so she knew going into it she was going to have a great chance. But to actually do it in a tough three-setter and just over two hours after what's been quite a long week for her beating other top-20 players in [Beatriz] Haddad Maia and [Donna] Vekic has been fantastic.
"What a way to head into Indian Wells."
All five victories Boulter recorded at the tournament came against top-50 opponents, but it was not much of a surprise for Robson, who feels the momentum has been building for a while.
"It's been slow and steady progress which I think has been the biggest change because it doesn't feel overwhelming in the moment when you have these big wins," she said.
"She started the year really well by beating Jessica Pegula in one of her first matches. You're thinking 'wow' she's really hitting it big but she's been playing really consistent tennis and she's really improved her movement so much.
"I think a lot of people kind of didn't expect her to miss the Middle Eastern swing in Doha and Dubai because she knew she wanted quite a big training block going into these American tournaments and what a difference it's made!
"Physically, she's looking stronger than ever, so for me not a surprise at all actually."
Boulter has had a flying start to the 2024 season and the victory over Kostyuk sees her break into the top 30 for the first time, now ranked 27th and automatically seeded for Indian Wells.
"She's cracked the top 30 this week and I feel like the sky's the limit really because it's been slow and steady progress. It doesn't feel like top 20 is out of the question," added Robson.
"She doesn't have a lot to defend until around the grass season in the summer so she'll be thinking 'what tournaments can I play by creating a smart schedule for myself to pick up some good wins?'.
"She's got a couple of days off before the first round in Indian Wells so she will be physically really fresh and she doesn't have anything to defend, so she's probably thinking top 20 already.
"Last year she was playing Australian Open qualifying and trying to get back inside the top 100, which felt a long way off, but suddenly we're already there."
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