Katie Boulter snub causes uproar as British No 1 punished despite biggest win of her career

Katie Boulter snub causes uproar as British No 1 punished despite biggest win of her career

Watch now: Katie Boulter and Alex de Minaur celebrate winning titles

Stuart Ballard

By Stuart Ballard


Published: 05/03/2024

- 08:12

Updated: 05/03/2024

- 08:35

Katie Boulter is back in action at Indian Wells this week following her win at the San Diego Open.

Katie Boulter has not been included among the seeded players for Indian Wells despite her win at the San Diego Open that moved her up to world No 27 in the WTA rankings.

The British No 1 pulled off the biggest win of her career at the weekend as she lifted the San Diego Open title.


Boulter won the Nottingham Open last year for her first professional title, but the California trophy was her first WTA 500 victory.

Winning the event saw Boulter jump up the rankings to a career-high position inside the top 32.

Katie Boulter is unseeded for Indian Wells despite moving inside the world's top 30

Katie Boulter is unseeded for Indian Wells despite moving inside the world's top 30

GETTY

Now being No 27 in the world grants Boulter the privilege that seeded players receive at tournaments where they're given byes in the first round.

However, Indian Wells have decided to use the ranking system from last week where Boulter was still No 49 in the world.

That has meant Boulter is an unseeded player for the WTA 1000 event and she's not been given a bye for the first round.

The 27-year-old has been given a tricky draw against Italy's Camila Giorgi, who has won four WTA titles in her career.

Any chance of a deep run at Indian Wells has been made even harder too with Boulter on course to face world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round.

If Indian Wells organisers had used rankings from this week then Boulter would have taken Elise Mertens spot as the No 24 seed.

That would have given a slightly more favourable draw, with Mertens set to face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Xin Wang in the second round.

The decision not to use the ranking system from this week has left some of Boulter's fans furious.

One person wrote on X: "Katie Boulter isn't seeded. I'm livid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Another moaned: "Idgaf about Boulter but using rankings from a week ago instead of today for a 2 week masters is so dumb."

Boulter does have a chance of eventually benefitting from her career-high ranking at the Miami Open later this month.

Katie Boulter won the San Diego Open last week

Katie Boulter won the San Diego Open last week`

GETTY

The British tennis star failed to make it through the qualifiers for Indian Wells last year, meaning she has a good chance of gaining even more ranking points.

A win over Giorgi will ensure she picks up 10 ranking points, although catching Caroline Garcia above her will take some doing.

The French tennis star is 220 points above Boulter while Mertens is just 54 points behind the British star.

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Katie Boulter faces Camila Giorgi in the first round

Katie Boulter faces Camila Giorgi in the first round

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Emma Raducanu has been given a wildcard for Indian Wells and she faces a qualifier in the opening round.

The 2021 US Open champion will face Dayana Tasyremska in the second round if she wins her tournament-opening match.

And she's on course to go up against world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round if she makes it that far.

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