Katie Boulter recovered from a poor start to beat former Wimbledon semi-finalist Tatjana Maria in straight sets and set up an all-British second-round tie with Harriet Dart.
Boulter, seeded for the first time at the Championships, was 4-1 down inside quarter of an hour on Court Three, but showed trademark gutsiness to fight back and edge the opener on a tie-break.
Breaks were traded at the start of the second before Boulter decisively claimed another in the 12th game to earn a 7-6 (6) 7-5 victory in two hours and seven minutes.
Sealing victory in style š@katiecboulter defeats Tatjana Maria, 7-6(6), 7-5 to reach the second round š¬š§#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/osFi9Pt1Yb
ā Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2024
Home favourite Boulter had backed herself to embrace the pressure of being British number one and the 32nd seed at the All England Club, but was broken immediately.
Experienced grass-court specialist Maria won 10 points in a row early in the first set and after 13 minutes it was 4-1 to the German.
It was a far from ideal start from Boulter, fresh from another victory in Nottingham and a run to the last eight in Eastbourne and with grandfather Brian among those in the crowd watching.
A lengthy sixth game built up Boulterās confidence before a number of booming forehands landed to get the break back.
The clash of styles with Boulterās power versus Mariaās deft touches produced several break point chances, but the opener went to a tie-break, which the 27-year-old from Leicestershire clinched in 56 minutes.
Maria, a surprise semi-finalist in SW19 two years ago, immediately broke at the start of the second.
However, Boulter, with boyfriend Alex De Minaur now in attendance after his first-round win, hit back with a break of her own before another tie-break appeared on the horizon.
Katie Boulter and Alex De Minaur, in sync š«¶#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/3EP6FszqRC
ā Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 2, 2024
The world number 29 had other ideas and a sweetly struck backhand winner on Boulterās first match point sent her through to the last 16 with a seventh main-draw victory at Wimbledon.
Next up is British number two Dart, who lost a close encounter to Boulter in Nottingham last month.
āPlaying a Brit in the UK on the grass is never an easy draw and Iām expecting an absolute battle,ā Boulter said in her on-court interview.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.Ā
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience forĀ our loyalĀ readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.Ā
That is invaluable.Ā
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalistās job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readersā comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readersā comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the āreport this postā link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here