Katie Boulter: The Briton was eliminated from the China Open in the third round by Coco Gauff

British No. 1 Katie Boulter was eliminated from the China Open by American Coco Gauff in straight sets 7-5, 6-2.

After a combative performance, Boulter tested the world number six, but Gauff managed to snatch a tight first set and then secure victory in the second set for a comfortable victory.

Gauff will now face four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka or fellow American Katie Volynets in the round of 16.

Boulter defeated Taylor Townsend to set up a meeting with former US Open champion Gauff and there was little separating the pair at first, but after Boulter’s serve was broken in the sixth game, Gauff began to take the lead.

However, the British No. 1 struck back and a solid serve helped her regain the balance from 5-2 to 5-5 before Gauff finally won the first set after a third set in the 12th game.

Gauff started the second set well and broke Boulter in the fourth game to take the lead before winning on her second match point.

Third in the ranking Jessica Pegula she responded to a marathon first-set loss to rally and win 6-7 (9-11), 6-1, 6-2 against Veronika Kudermetova in the third round.

Pegula has won 17 of her last 19 matches, including defending her title in Toronto and reaching the finals in Cincinnati and the US Open. Her only defeats were against Aryna Sabalenka, the highest-seeded player in Beijing.

“Every time I played against her, it was really hard,” Pegula said. “After I came back from 2-5 in the first set, I kind of knew what to do, I just had to give it my all in the next few sets. I’m glad I was able to figure it out and finally help mine go head-to-head against her.”

The American broke three service breaks in the first set, but also lost three of her own, and Kudermetova won after a breathtaking 20-point tie-break to take the lead.

The tie-break loss seemed to revitalize Pegula as she regained groundstroke range to break her Russian opponent’s serve twice in each set to win the match in just over two and a half hours. It was Pegula’s first win in three tries over 39th-ranked Kudermetova.

Pegula will play against the fifteenth seed Paolo Bados in the fourth round, the Spaniard defeated Serbian Rebecca Sramkova 7:5, 7:5.

What’s happening in October on Sky Sports Tennis?

• Shanghai Masters – ATP 1000 (October 2-13 – Jack Draper in action)
• Wuhan Open – WTA 1000 (October 6-12 – Emma Raducanu in action)
• Almaty Open, Kazakhstan – ATP 250 (October 14–20)
• Stockholm Open, Sweden – ATP 250 (October 14-20)
• European Open, Antwerp – ATP 250 (October 14–20)
• Japan Open, Osaka – WTA 250 (October 14–20)
• Ningbo Open, China – WTA 500 (October 14-20)
• Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21–27)
• Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21–27)
• Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
• Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21–27)

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