Rothesay Open Nottingham 2024: Katie Boulter wins second ...

Boulter overcame 2016 champion and former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova in the final 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 56 minutes to lift the Elena Baltacha Trophy for the second year in a row.

She is now the first player to win the WTA Tour event in Nottingham in consecutive years and is one of only three British players to lift the trophy after Elena Baltatch and Johanna Konta. 

The British No.1 had to win two matches on the final day in Nottingham, not only coming from a set down to defeat fellow Brit Emma Raducanu but closing out another epic victory against the 2021 Wimbledon runner-up Pliskova – totalling more than four hours on court.

"This is a little bit of deja-vu, I’m not exactly sure if I’m dreaming or if this just happened," she said.

"I put a lot of work and a lot of soul into this week and I felt like I'm really reaping the rewards for what I've put in during the last few years. 

"It's great for me, I came here to get a couple of matches and obviously you want to start your grass court season gtting into the backend of tournaments but I maybe didn't expect this straight away.

"I'm very happy with today - I never thought it would happen again. I thought it would be one time in Nottingham, but this one is very special to me."

Boulter started the match brightly with an early beak, but the big-serving former world No.1 soon found her feet. From 4-2 down she won four straight games to take the set – putting a potential upset firmly on the cards.

The 27-year-old has been impressive on her return all week as she continues to adapt to the grass. Having broken Raducanu five times in the final two sets in her first match of the day, Boulter did the exact same to Pliskova a few hours later.

The Czech star, beginning to show signs of fatigue after a tough semi-final earlier in the day as well and Boulter kept her intensity. Boulter won all but four points on Pliskova’s second serve the rest of the match and having fired herself in front during the decider, completed her 10th straight victory in Nottingham with her sixth break of the contest.

With Jacob Fearnley’s victory in the men’s singles – this is only the second time in history that a British player has won the women’s and men’s draws at the same events. The only previous time was in Nottingham 2023 (Boulter and Andy Murray).

It is also the first time that a British woman and man have won a tour-level event on the same day since Roger Taylor and Ann Hobbs in 1971 – after Jack Draper captured his first ATP title in Stuttgart.