IN A hard-fought come-from-behind battle, world number 100 Harriet Dart spoiled the party of British number one, Katie Boulter. Despite 71 ranking places separating them, both players know each other’s games intimately and put on a show on Court 1, with the lower ranked compatriot winning 4-6 6-1 7-6 in two hours and 57 minutes.

Boulter could hardly believe her eyes after winning the super tiebreak 10-8, having had to come from a set down and then hold her nerve through an incredibly tight deciding set. Dart face a 2-6 deficit in the deciding set tiebreak, but found a way to come back and win eight of the last 10 points to win the match and advance through to the Round of 32 for the first time in five years.

“I wear my emotions on my sleeve so you can see how I’m thinking,” Dart said post-match. “My head-to-head is absolutely woeful against her so I wasn’t expecting too much. And even though I was down in that tie-break I just thought: ‘Give it everything, no regrets.’. This is massive for me, surreal.”

Dart became the third British woman to reach the third round at the 2024 event behind Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal who achieved the feat yesterday. It is the first time since 1987 that the Wimbledon crowd has seen a trio of Brits venture this far in the ladies singles.

The match was largely off Boulter’s racquet as the 32nd seed hit 22 more winners (39-17) but also a whopping 75 unforced errors, making up 60 per cent of Dart’s total points. Among those were nine double faults, though Dart was even wore with 12, but only an additional 23 unforced errors on top of that.

It was Dart’s ability to convert her first serve points, winning 79 per cent of them compared to Boulter’s 65 per cent, while also converting 43 per cent of her receiving points. Neither player converted too many breaks – a combined seven of 28 – but in the end, Dart’s work in the super tiebreak was the difference.

Dart will now take on world number 42 Xinyu Wang who stunned fifth seed Jessica Pegula in three sets, 6-4 6-7 6-1.

AROUND THE COURTS

While Pegula bowed out, the majority of the top seeds advanced with world number one Iga Swiatek, 10th seed Ons Jabeur, 11th seed Danielle Collins, 12th seed Madison Keys and 13th seed Jelena Ostapenko all moving through in straight sets. British wildcard Yuriko Lily Miyazaki copped a reality check, crashing down to earth after Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina double-bagelled her on Court 18.

A rare seed to fall was Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, with the 23rd seed going down to American Bernarda Pera, while Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva also knocked off 27th seeded Czech Katerina Siniakova. Fourth seed and past Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina had to overcome a three-set battle against experienced German Laura Siegemund, while Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk ended the run of the last Australian, Daria Saville.