Nottingham Open 2023: Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson reach semi-finals.

British trio Jodie Burrage, Katie Boulter and Heather Watson all gained impressive wins to move into the Nottingham Open semi-finals.

Burrage beat Poland's Magdalena Frech 6-2 3-6 7-5 before Boulter defeated fellow Briton Harriet Dart 6-3 7-5 in the other half of the tournament draw.

It is the first time Burrage and Boulter have reached WTA semi-finals.

Boulter will face Watson after she beat Switzerland's Viktorija Golubic 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 to guarantee a British finalist.

Watson, 31, reached the fourth round of Wimbledon last year, her best performance at a Grand Slam, but received no ranking points.

Wimbledon had banned players from Russia and Belarus in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with governing bodies the ATP and WTA reacting by awarding no ranking points to any player.

Watson's ranking has dropped to 195th and she had to make it through two qualifying rounds to just get into the Nottingham Open, but has now reached the semi-finals for the first time.

"It feels absolutely incredible," said Watson, who sealed the victory with an ace after breaking Golubic's serve in the previous game.

"I've been on tour for a very long time, and I'm really proud of myself for continuing to fight through the ups and downs.

"I love tennis, that's why I continue to play and the reason I fight for moments like this, in tournaments like this and to play in front of crowds like you.

"I got asked in the press about my thoughts on British women's tennis at the moment and I know all the girls are ranked in the mid-100 range.

"I know from practising with them all the time that we are all ranked not where our games are at, and all playing better than that, so I'm not surprised there are three of us in the semi-finals."

Really positive for British players'

Boulter, 26, became British number one for the first time earlier this week, replacing the injured Emma Raducanu, and needed to defeat Dart to have a chance of keeping the position for another week.

Two early breaks of serve gave Boulter a 4-1 lead on her way to taking the first set, before she broke Dart's serve in the sixth game of the second.

Dart needed medical treatment on an injury to her right hamstring and was doing stretching exercises in between points, yet managed to break Boulter's serve.

However, after being unable to convert five match points, Boulter won to move into the final four.

"I feel I've worked so hard for this moment and overcame some tough times," said Boulter.

"You could see how much it meant to get through after a really tough battle. It shows how far we have come.

"There's talk in the press about the next player coming up but I think we've shown this week there's a lot of depth in British tennis.

"Hopefully we can keep looking at that and look for the positives because it's been really positive for British players."

There was tension between Boulter and Dart at the end of the match, before they shook hands.

As she was walking towards the net, Boulter, while looking in the direction of her coaching staff, tapped her head twice.

Dart called the gesture "unprofessional" and said: "I know you are doing that towards me."

Boulter replied by saying: "It's not, it's nothing personal, I do it every single match."

Then in her post-match interview Boulter added: "It's awful playing a friend, she is such a tough competitor.

"I tried to play the ball, not the player and today it went my way but on another day it might not, so credit to her."

Earlier on Friday, Burrage, 131st in the world, broke Frech's serve twice in the first set, but her opponent fought back well to force a deciding set.

The Briton failed to take two match points in the 10th game of the third set, but sealed the victory two games later.

"This week has given me so much confidence, especially not playing so much with the injuries I have had," said Burrage.

"To make my first semi-final of a WTA, the confidence it will give me is massive and I will take that into the next tournament.

"It was a really tough match, I'm feeling it a little bit. I would rather like to stop playing three-set matches, but if it gets me the win I have to grind through it."

Burrage will play either American Elizabeth Mandlik or France's Alize Cornet, who beat top seed Maria Sakkari on Wednesday, in the semi-finals.

Victories for Boulter, Dart and Burrage on Thursday, following Watson's last-16 success on Wednesday, meant four British women had reached the quarter-finals of the same WTA Tour event for the first time.

In the men's competition, Britain's George Loffhagen, 414th in the world, had never previously won a match at Challenger Tour level before wins over Finland's Otto Virtanen and China's Shang Juncheng, ranked 131st and 176th respectively.

But Loffhagen could not repeat the feat in his quarter-final against fifth-seeded Dominik Koepfer, who won in three sets, 7-5 4-6 6-3.