Boulter loses in 1st round of Birmingham Classic, two days after winning her 1st WTA title

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Britain’s Katie Boulter couldn’t bring along her title-winning form to Birmingham Classic. Two days after winning a first WTA title at the Nottingham Open, Boulter lost in the first round of another grass-court event on home soil. She was defeated 7-5, 7-5 by Lin Zhu of China. Fellow Briton Jodie Burrage was the runner-up in Nottingham and also lost early in Birmingham 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 to compatriot Harriet Dart. Second-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia beat Linda Noskova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1. Top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova’s first-round matcthe h with Cristina Bucsa was held over until Wednesday.