After recording her first Top 10 victory by beating Karolina Pliskova at Eastbourne last week, Great Britain’s Katie Boulter repeated the feat in the second round of Wimbledon and reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time.
The world No.118 Boulter edged the former world No.1 Pliskova 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 on Center Court to earn the biggest win of her career.
In the first set, the sixth-seeded Pliskova won five consecutive games to go from 0-2 to 5-2 and then closed the set in 36 minutes with a love hold.
In the second set, Pliskova twice recovered from a break down to get to 4-all. Serving immaculately to take the set into a tiebreak, Pliskova’s rhythm was disrupted as Boulter won the first four points of the tiebreak. Pliskova managed to fight back from 0-4 to 3-4 in the final stage of the set, but that was all she could do as Boulter converted her second set point and headed into a decider.
The third set went with serve until 4-all, when Boulter managed to stop the trend and consolidate her break for the win.
The 25-year-old Boulter has risen over 100 places in the rankings over the past year. Pliskova, winner of three grass-court titles, was bidding to win back-to-back matches for only the third time this season.
In the third round of Wimbledon, Boulter’s opponent will be France’s Harmony Tan, who eliminated Serena Williams and Sara Sorribes Tormo in the first two rounds.
