Katie Boulter loses to Victoria Azarenka in Miami Open

British number one Katie Boulter missed out on a place in the Miami Open quarter-finals after she lost in straight sets to Victoria Azarenka.

Boulter had broken new ground with victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia in the previous round to reach the last-16 of the tournament for the first time, but saw her journey in Florida end after she was ground down by her veteran opponent.

A marathon first set went the way of former world number one Azarenka and it proved pivotal with Boulter unable to keep up her level in set two before she lost 7-5 6-1.

Two-time Australian Open champion Azarenka looked on course to cruise past the recent San Diego Open winner when she established a 5-2 lead in the first set.

World number 30 Boulter had already faced a string of break points by this point, but had to save a number of set points in what proved a decisive eighth game.

It spurred Boulter on and she broke back against the Belarusian before she held again to level at 5-5.

However, with a tie-breaker on the horizon, Azarenka showed her experience to claim another break against the Briton before she closed out a 71-minute first set.

The momentum had firmly swung now and Azarenka went on to break Boulter at the start of the second.

Another break followed before another poor service return by Boulter sealed Azarenka’s passage into the last eight where she will face Yulia Putintseva.

World number three Coco Gauff had to dig deep to beat Caroline Garcia in three sets.

Garcia, the 23rd seed, won the first set and restricted Gauff to no break points.

It was a different story afterwards though with Gauff winning 12 of the next 15 games to progress 3-6 6-1 6-2.

Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina joined Gauff at the quarter-final stage with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Madison Keys.