Katie Boulter produced her best Wimbledon run last year – reaching the third round (Picture: Getty)
British No.1 Katie Boulter has booked her place in the second round of Wimbledon with a 7-6 6-1 win against Daria Saville.
The first-round meeting on Court 18 began on Tuesday and did not conclude until Wednesday after the match was rained off as Boulter came out on top, with the clash also interrupted by a Just Stop Oil protest.
Boulter produced her best Wimbledon performance last year with a run to the third round and after replacing Emma Raducanu as the top British player and winning her maiden WTA Tour title this summer, she is targeting a deeper run.
The world No.89 will next face either Bulgaria’s world No.99 Viktoriya Tomova or 27th-seed Bernarda Pera, who has struggled on grass throughout her career.
Boulter is one of several Brits playing today and her match came after British No.2 Jodie Burrage lost 6-0 6-2 to Russian 11th-seed Daria Kasatkina on Centre Court in the second round and wildcard Arthur Fery was beaten by Daniil Medvedev.
George Loffhagen, Heather Watson, Sonay Kartal are all in singles action too – while Dan Evans crashed out on Tuesday night to Quentin Halys.
It was a scrappy start to Boulter’s match as she survived three break points to hold in game two before breaking her opponent to take the lead – as men’s British No.1 Cameron Norrie and the Princess of Wales watched on.
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World No.231 Saville, who was born in Moscow and used to represent Russia before switching allegiance to Australia in 2015, leveled it up with her third break point in game four.
Both players continued to hold as rain threatened to disrupt the action but play continued on Court 18 before the match was eventually suspended – with Saville leading 6-5 before Boutler’s next service game.
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Play resumed on Wednesday and after Boutler levelled it up at 6-6 to force a tie-break, a Just Stop Oil protester invaded the court and scattered orange confetti and puzzle pieces over the playing surface.
After a brief delay, the tie-break continued as Boutler wrapped it up 7-6 (7-4) before a dominant performance in the second set saw her win 7-6 6-2.
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Just Stop Oil tried to spoil the party…