Boulter reaches Hong Kong Open last-16 despite on-court incident

Katie Boulter reached the last-16 of the Hong Kong Open on 2 November 2026, saying it was "lesson learned" after an incident that "got under my skin".

She overcame a match in which she complained to the umpire after a point was not replayed for an audible noise from outside. Boulter was serving for the match at 5-2 when Viktorija Golubic broke her serve. An unsettled Boulter then lost her next service game and the world number 49 came through a tie-break to take a 6-2 7-6 (7-2) victory.

Boulter addressed the disruption after the match, saying: "It was interesting," and adding: "I was playing some really good tennis. I feel like I should have closed it out but a couple of things happened." She also said: "There was a little bit of interesting judgement which got under my skin a little bit and, usually, I'm pretty good at batting it off but I was a little tired." She finished: "It's end of season and it seemed to get to me but lesson learned, I managed to get over the line."

She was the losing finalist at the Hong Kong Open in 2024.

Boulter beat world number 89 Golubic in dominant fashion when reaching the semi-finals at the Japan Open last month. She will play American Claire Liu in the next round.