Katie Boulter said it was “lesson learned” as she overcame an incident that “got under my skin” to reach the last-16 of the Hong Kong Open.
The British number one was broken by Viktorija Golubic when serving for the match at 5-2 up during a game in which Boulter complained to the umpire after a point was not replayed for an audible noise from outside causing a distraction.
An unsettled Boulter also lost her next service game before the world number 49 came through a tie-break to take a 6-2 7-6 (7-2) victory.
“It was interesting,” said Boulter, who was the losing finalist at the Hong Kong Open in 2024.
“I was playing some really good tennis. I feel like I should have closed it out but a couple of things happened.
“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.
“It’s end of season and it seemed to get to me but lesson learned, I managed to get over the line.”
Boulter, who beat world number 89 Golubic in dominant fashion when reaching the semi-finals at the Japan Open last month, will play American Claire Liu in the next round.