Katie Boulter overcomes nightmare start to set up all-British Wimbledon showdown
Katie Boulter will face British No.2 Harriet Dart in the second round (Picture: Getty)
British No.1 Katie Boulter found herself 3-0 down in her first match at Wimbledon 2024 on Tuesday but battled back to defeat Tatjana Maria, setting up an all-British second-round battle against Harriet Dart.
Boulter, the world No.29, headed into this year’s Championships seeded for the very first time and had been in the form of her life heading into Wimbledon.
Former British No.1 Tim Henman even tipped Boulter to reach the second week of the tournament but she has was given a big scare in her first-round match.
German player Maria, ranked world No.63 – which is 34 places below Boulter – raced into a massive 3-0 first-set lead on the No.3 Court as the British crowd fell silent, with Boulter making far more unforced errors than her opponent.
She was able to recover from the deficit, eventually levelling up the set at 4-4, as her boyfriend Alex de Minaur – seeded ninth in the men’s singles – watched on.
Boulter required a tie-break to clinch the first set as British fans helped her get narrowly over the line 7-6 (8-6).
The 27-year-old went up a level in the second set, taking it 7-5 to book her spot in the second round, where she will face Dart after the British No.2 beat Bai Zhuoxuan over on Court 18 earlier in the day.
Harriet Dart beat Bai Zhuoxuan 6-4 6-0 over on Court 18 (Picture: Getty)
Boulter won the Nottingham Open title less than a month ago, her third trophy on the WTA Tour to date, after she beat Emma Raducanu in the last four.
She recently went on a 7-0 winning streak in completed matches on the grass, a spell which also saw her enjoy a run to the quarter-finals in Eastbourne.
Will Katie Boulter reach the second week of Wimbledon?
Katie Boulter has never been past the third round of Wimbledon, crashing out at that stage for the last two years.
But she’s unseeded and will enjoy somewhat of an easier route this time around with Tim Henman tipping her to produce her best tournament performance yet.
Asked if Boulter or Emma Raducanu would progress further at SW19 this year, Henman told Metro.co.uk: ‘That’s a good question. I think probably Katie Boulter.
‘She is knocking on the door of the top 20. She’s a bit more experienced and she’s played a lot more tennis.
‘I definitely think they both could be in the second week. It’s going to be interesting to see.’