Katie Boulter's staying power helps seal second round spot

Katie Boulter's staying power paid dividends as she battled through an elongated two-day match to reach the second round of Wimbledon. Leicester player Boulter, who is a recent graduate of the LTA's Pro Scholarship Programme, was handed an encounter against Australian Daria Saville to start her campaign at SW19 this year. Ad The British No.1 may have been favourite on paper against an opponent currently ranked 231st in the world, but in reality Saville was always going to provide a stern test.

TennisArthur Fery left with no regrets after impressive Wimbledon debut30 MINUTES AGO Before enduring multiple injury issues — including an ACL tear in October 2022 — Saville reached a career high of 20th in the WTA Rankings and twice reached the second week of her home Grand Slam. And the opening stages of the encounter proved as tight as expected, with the Australian leading 6-5 on serve before play was suspended due to rain on Tuesday. After further rain delays on Wednesday, Boulter and Saville finally returned to Court 18 mid-afternoon and faced yet another temporary stoppage when a protester got onto court.

But the Brit was eventually able to take a tight opening set, and ultimately eased her way to a 7-6(4) 6-2 victory. She said: «Obviously, I'm super happy, It was not easy conditions. There was a lot going on.

I really had to work hard to focus on myself and stay in the moment. »I think going into that match it was a lot based on conditions. Tuesday, it was a lot heavier.

I was a little bit nervous — obviously it's the first match at Wimbledon, you'd be inhuman not to have any nerves. «For me it was about continually swinging. I think I was a bit clearer today on the game plan.