Katie Boulter faces Harriet Dart at Wimbledon after 'embarrassing' dispute in last match
Katie Boulter will play against her friend Harriet Dart in the second round at Wimbledon after battling past Tatjana Maria.
The British No.1 came through 7-6 7-5 in a gutsy performance which went on for two hours and seven minutes on Court Three. Boulter only out-scored 2022 Wimbledon semi-finalist Maria by one point over the contest, underlining the tight margins by which matches are won and lost.
She will now face British No.2 Dart in the second round, in what will be a repeat of the Nottingham Open final on June 10. Boulter won that match 6-7 6-4 7-5 in a contest which lasted three hours and 13 minutes and contained some tense moments.
Dart was furious with umpire Kelly Rask, who overruled the line judge to call a shot by Boulter in. Dart responded by offering a £50,000 bet that the ball was out before stating: "The ball is so far out, this is embarrassing. You're embarrassing yourself. You should be embarrassed.”
Boulter described that match as a “battle” and is expecting something similar at Wimbledon. "Playing a Brit on the grass in the UK is never an easy draw and I‘m expecting a tough battle,” she told the BBC.
“We’ve played a few times before and I’m going to look at those but it’s about playing the tennis ball, not about playing the person. We are obviously Billie Jean King Cup team-mates on the court but I’ve got to try and forget that and focus on the tennis."
Dart thrashed China’s Zhuoxuan Bai 6-4 6-0 to reach the second round and spoke about her relationship with Boulter in her post-match press conference. “We're team-mates. We played big tournaments. We've grown up together. We've been close,” Dart said. “It's always going to be tricky, whoever I play, especially when you play a fellow Brit. But it's great to see that all of us are doing well and putting us in positions where we do get to play each other, hopefully more so in the latter rounds.
Harriet Dart of Great Britain
“I'm not seeded, so I always knew I'm going to play a seeded player at some point. She's been having an amazing year. We had a really tough battle the last few weeks in Nottingham. She's playing incredibly well.”
Dart is also not phased about the possibility of playing in front of a big crowd on a show court in the next round. “Whichever court we play on, whoever I play, it's another opportunity,” the 27-year-old said. “I've played many times on big courts on big occasions here. I played a third round match in 2019 on Centre Court. I'd say I've played on quite a lot of the big courts at big moments. I feel like I can try to use that as much as possible.
“It would be cool to play on a big court. A lot of people will play this tournament many times and not get the opportunity to play on the most historic court ever.”