By Richard Osborn
San Diego, CA–It was a big weekend for the boyfriend-girlfriend combo of Alex de Minaur and Katie Boulter.
Only hours after successfully defending his ATP 500 title in Acapulco, the Australian de Minaur raced northward just in time to see Boulter, Great Britain’s top-ranked woman, claim a WTA 500 title of her own at the Cymbiotika San Diego Open.
Boulter, projected to climb to a career-high ranking of No. 27 on Monday, defeated sixth seed Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, at Barnes Tennis Center. The world No. 49 is the lowest-ranked WTA 500 champion since 106th-ranked Liudmila Samsonova took the Berlin title in 2021.
All Boulter did this week was topple the Nos. 2, 3, 6, and 7 seeds in earning the biggest title of her career.
“I really didn’t think I’d be standing here with the trophy, I really didn’t,” said the 27-year-old Boulter, who, per tournament tradition, was also gifted a surfboard for her efforts in San Diego. “That will be an absolute nightmare to get home,” she joked.
“I’m just smiling. I’m very happy with this week. I really didn’t expect it. You put in all this hard work and you just don’t know when it’s going to come out. I started my year out great,” Boulter said. “To be here right now and getting wins day in and day out with people ranked higher than me, it really does feel good. I have a lot of confidence going into the next few weeks.”
Kostyuk would need three service breaks, seven set points, and just over an hour to take the tense opener, the clincher coming on an untimely double fault from Boulter at 5-6, 15-40, one of 13 on the day.
But Boulter would finally find her footing in the second set, surging ahead with the powerful ground game that had served her so well throughout the week. She closed out Kostyuk, a quarterfinalist earlier this year at the Australian Open, in two hours and 13 minutes.
Boulter sent a special thank-you to her boyfriend courtside after the match: “He finished last night at midnight. He got in a 4:15 taxi this morning and a 6 o’clock flight to be here today, so I do appreciate it.”
The 34th-ranked Kostyuk had advanced to the final with a career-best 7-6(4), 6-1 victory over top-seeded and fifth-ranked Jessica Pegula in the semifinals.
Boulter is the first British woman to win a title in San Diego since an unseeded Annabel Croft defeated Australian Wendy Turnbull, 6-0, 7-6(5), at the 1985 Virginia Slims of San Diego, played at the San Diego Hilton Beach and Tennis Resort.
The American-Australian duo of Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez, the third seeds, captured the Cymbiotika San Diego Open doubles title in a rain-delayed final in Barnes Stadium, taking down the top-seeded American tandem of Jessica Pegula and Desirae Krawczyk, 6-1, 6-2, in 58 minutes.
Asked what makes her team, which has now reached back-to-back finals in Dubai and San Diego, so effective, Perez said, “It’s a combination of big serves and aggressive net play. I think we like to set each other up and play on our terms a lot. We also have great communication.”
San Diego Open – Barnes Tennis Center
$ 922,573
February 26-3 March
Results – Sunday, Mar 3
F – [3] N. Melichar-Martinez (USA) / E. Perez (AUS) d. [1] D. Krawczyk (USA) / J. Pegula (USA) 61 62
F – K. Boulter (GBR) d. [6] M. Kostyuk (UKR) 57 62 62
