Katie Boulter suffers first-round exit to Elena-Gabriela Ruse in Austria

Britain’s Katie Boulter suffered a first-round defeat to Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open.

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.

Boulter lost her first two service games in the opening set but twice broke before she was edged out in a tie-break.

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.

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.

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.

However, she did not make it past the second and third rounds respectively at Indian Wells and the Miami Open prior to this loss.