Katie Boulter said it was "lesson learned" as she overcame an incident that "got under my skin" to reach the last 16 of the Hong Kong Open.

The British number one was broken by Viktorija Golubic when serving for the match at 5-2 up in the second set.

During the game, Boulter complained to the umpire after a point was not replayed for an audible noise from outside causing a distraction.

An unsettled Boulter also lost her next service game before the world number 49 came through a tie-break to take a 6-2 7-6 (7-2) victory.

"It was interesting," said Boulter, who was the losing finalist at the Hong Kong Open in 2024.

"I was playing some really good tennis. I feel like I should have closed it out but a couple of things happened.

"There was a little bit of interesting judgement which got under my skin a little bit and, usually, I'm pretty good at batting it off but I was a little tired.

"It's end of season and it seemed to get to me but lesson learned, I managed to get over the line."

Boulter, who beat world number 89 Golubic in dominant fashion when reaching the semi-finals at the Japan Open last month, will play American Claire Liu in the next round.

Meanwhile, Venus Williams suffered a 17th consecutive singles defeat as she was beaten by fellow American Mary Stoiana in the first round in Hong Kong.

The 46-year-old, who is 597th in the women's rankings, lost 6-2 6-3 to 23-year-old Stoiana, who is ranked 113th.

Williams - a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion - has not won a singles match since July 2025 and relies on wildcards to play WTA tournaments.