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Britain’s Katie Boulter suffered a first-round defeat to Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open.<\/b><\/p>\n
Boulter, 29, went down 7-6 7-6 on clay to world number 87 Ruse, who will now face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska or American Ann Li in the last 16. <\/p>\n
Boulter lost her first two service games in the opening set but twice broke before she was edged out in a tie-break.<\/p>\n
The British number three broke Ruse’s serve for a third time to take an early advantage in the second set but her opponent immediately responded in a see-saw encounter.<\/p>\n
Boulter staved off match point at 6-5 down to force another tie-break, but Ruse claimed two mini breaks to move 5-2 ahead before serving out to seal her win. <\/p>\n
World number 62 Boulter won the fourth WTA Tour title of her career at the Ostrava Open in February and reached the last eight at the Merida Open in Mexico. <\/p>\n
However, she did not make it past the second and third rounds respectively at Indian Wells and the Miami Open prior to this loss.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n