Battling Katie digs in to give Britain lift-off
KATIE BOULTER dug deep to earn her third victory of the week for Great Britain at the Fed Cup last night.
Boulter prevailed in a tense final set against Dalma Galfi of Hungary, winning 6-4, 6-7, 7-6 in the Group A encounter.
It was a fine performance in the final set, recovering from an early break and having to save two more break points before eventually gettingg the job done in the tiebreak.
“Oh my God.
This is everything to me,” said Boulter. “This means so much.
“I was not calm at all. I wanted to see the last ball go out so I knew I had won. My heart was pumping so quickly.
“My mum is everything to me.
My mum, my grandparents, they mean so much to me. Thank you to everyone here supporting me.
“Jo [Johanna Konta] will go out and do the same thing [against Anna Bondar in last night’s later match]. I hope everyone can be as loud for her as they have been for me.” Boulter came out firing last night, just as she had done in her previous two matches, and claimed the first set 6-4.
The British No2 was far too hot to handle for the world No311 Galfi in the opening stages as she raced into a 5-1 lead.
Galfi began to find her feet and staged something of a recovery but Boulter served it out at the second attempt, winning her seventh set point. Boulter would have hoped to get the match wrapped up in straight sets but Galfi levelled it up by claiming the second set in a tie-break. The set was a much more even affair and the Hungarian eventually triumphed to send the match to a decider, but Boulter held her nerve.
She added: “I can only do my best, that’s all I can do. Every match, I try as hard as I can. I’m a fighter. That’s who I am. I think I’ve proven that in the past couple of days. It has been a really good week for me. Hopefully we can make it great.
“I think I was just trying to breathe. It was very difficult to keep my head straight and I just wanted to zone in again and put the towel on my head and focus on the floor a little bit and I thought I did well to bounce back from that.
“I am ready to get some rest. I sat here yesterday and said, ‘I put everything into that’ and I can tell you the same thing today.
“My whole heart I put on that line there and I did the absolute best I could and it was just about enough.”
Britain have played outside the Fed Cup’s top two tiers since 1993 but are now in the running to reach the World Group II play-offs for a third consecutive year.
But including last night’s tie, with Konta playing Bondar late on, Britain still need to win three fixtures to be promoted, with a play-off today against Group B winners Serbia.
The winner of that will then secure a spot in the Fed Cup World Group II play-off in April.