Wimbledon 2024: Harriet Dart battles back to beat Katie Boulter in thrilling all-British clash to reach third round
Updated 04/07/2024 at 18:34 GMT+1
In a battle of the top two British women it was No. 2 Harriet Dart who came out on top against Katie Boulter in the second round of Wimbledon. Dart fought back from dropping the opening set to set up a meeting with Wang Xinyu. Boulter had won the previous three meetings in a row against Dart, including twice this year.
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Video credit: SNTV
Harriet Dart fought back to beat Katie Boulter in an epic all-British clash to reach the third round of Wimbledon for the second time.
A tightly contested match saw British No. 2 Dart recover from dropping the opening set to beat the British No. 1 4-6 6-1 7-6(8) after a thrilling tie-break in the final set.
Dart, who had lost her previous three matches in a row against Boulter, including twice in the last two months, will next face China's Wang Xinyu who claimed a shock 6-4 6-7(7) 6-1 win over No. 5 seed Jessica Pegula.
It is the first time Dart has reached the third round at Wimbledon since 2019, and the first time she and Boulter had met in a major.
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"I knew it was always going to be a really tough battle, we played a few weeks ago and it didn't go my way," Dart said in her post-match interview.
Dart continued: "I wear my emotions on my sleeve so you see everything how I'm thinking, unfortunately, but I'm so happy to be able to get through. Thank you so much for the support, it was so fab.
"My head-to-head is absolutely woeful against Katie Boulter so I wasn't expecting too much but at the same time I just tried my best out there and even though I was down in that tie-break I just thought give it everything, no regrets and I'm really pleased to be able to battle through.
"I haven't played on Court One since I played mixed doubles here a few years ago so it's so nice to get my first big win on a really big stadium court in front of a home crowd. It's absolutely surreal."
The first set saw Boulter fend off three breaks in a lengthy fourth game before breaking in the next game after Dart netted a backhand.
A love hold saw Boulter move into a 4-2 lead and she closed out the set with a swinging serve out wide that Dart could only return into the tramlines.
Dart fought back in the second set as Boulter's level dropped, as she started to take charge of proceedings as the error count from her opponent totted up.
Dart took the set to level the contest and carried her momentum into the decider, breaking for a 3-2 lead after a marathon fifth game.
Boulter, urged on by boyfriend Alex de Minaur, hit back to level at 4-4, taking advantage of Dart's service speed dropping.
Dart failed to convert a break-point chance at 5-5 before holding to set up a 10-point tie-break for the match.
The pair split the opening four points before Boulter reeled off four in a row to seemingly take control, but Dart - who was in tears at times during the breaker - responded in kind to make it 6-6 and then moved 8-7 ahead.
Boulter made it 8-8 but two errors from her racquet handed her compatriot the victory.
"I just had a tough day at the office, not my best tennis today unfortunately", Boulter said in her post-match interview. "But it's what happens sometimes. I've just got to take it on the chin. She played well."
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