Katie Boulter wanted to take a moment to ‘embarrass’ her boyfriend Alex de Minaur after her sensational win at the San Diego Open after he took a 4.15am taxi and flew 2000 miles to make it in time to watch the final.
The British No 1 came from a set down to beat sixth seed Marta Kostyuk 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in Sunday’s final.
It’s just the second WTA Tour title of Boulter’s career after she won the Nottingham Open last year.
Boulter will now reach a career-high ranking and break into the world’s top 30, meaning she will be seeded for Indian Wells.
Katie Boulter won the biggest title of her career
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Her achievement was made that much sweeter as her boyfriend De Minaur managed to make it in time having played his own final in Acapulco just hours before.
The Aussie star successfully defended his title at the Mexican Open and then caught a 6am flight to California to watch Boulter play in San Diego.
And the British tennis star left De Minaur red-faced during her winner’s speech as she gave a special mention to her Aussie boyfriend for making the quick trip over.
“I want to say a small special thank you to my boyfriend,” she said.
“He finished last night at midnight and I really want to embarrass him.
“He got on a 4.15am taxi this morning and six o’clock flight to be here today so I do appreciate it.”
Boulter’s win didn’t look likely after struggling to hold her own serve in the first set.
Kostyuk took full advantage of Boulter’s woes to take a 1-0 lead but it all clicked for the British star at the start of the second.
Alex de Minaur was in the audience to watch Katie Boulter's final
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Boulter found her rhythm on her first serve with Kostyuk unable to work her own chances to break.
The 27-year-old broke her opponent in back-to-back service games before forcing a deciding set.
All the momentum was with Boulter, who took both her break point opportunities in the third set to wrap up the biggest win of her career.
Katie Boulter will move into the world's top 30
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After the match, Boulter said: “This week has been very, very special for so many different reasons. This one is pretty amazing, I’ve worked very hard for it, I played some incredible tennis all week.
“Today was a complete battle, with myself as well, because I was a little bit nervous. But I managed to get over the line, and that I’m very proud of.
“A lot of it was about me staying as tough as I possibly could mentally, and I managed to keep my cool and actually kind of went within myself and calmed myself down a lot.
"I think that really helped me, and then I started to relax and play through shots a little bit more."
