Boulter’s scenic route to victory
BRIT TEEN JUSTIFIES HER WILDCARD
JUST when it looked like Katie Boulter was going to make the second round with plenty to spare, she decided to take a more scenic route.
It could have been all over well within an hour and a half before she missed a match point at 5-4 in the second set.
Another 45 minutes of drama ensued but it all worked out in the end, the 21-year- old from Leicestershire beating Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg 6- 4, 5-7, 6-4.
She now meets Japan’s rising star and 18th seed Naomi Osaka but, regardless, the GB No 3 has certainly justified being awarded a wildcard into the tournament.
Boulter was probably the least contentious of all the wildcard donations, given her progress this year and her very decent form on the grass.
This was actually her eighth victory on the surface in the last four weeks, and she made the final of the Southsea Trophy the week before. There has been, also, impressive progress up the rankings this season, having started the year at 199 and now moving well inside the top 120 after this.
She joins Jo Konta and Katie Swan in the second round, the latter another one who made her wildcard selection look a no-brainer.
Today 19-year- old Swan takes on Mihaela Buzarnescu, 30, the Romanian 29th seed with a PhD in physical education. Later Boulter will be her partner in the first-round doubles.
‘I’m ecstatic, it’s something I have dreamed of my whole life,’ Boulter said. ‘Winning your first match at Wimbledon is always going to be extremely difficult. I’d like to think I am a good competitor and that is what got me through.
‘Katie and I are close friends and it’s great that a lot of the British girls have been doing well.’
Boulter’s rise has been guided by former British men’s No 1 Jeremy Bates, who was among those squeezed into the cramped confines of Court 14, which hosted three British matches yesterday, the last of which was heather Watson who lost 6- 4, 7- 5 to Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens last night. even when the england World Cup match had kicked off against Colombia and many spectators had gone home, the court was still packed and seemed too small for the purpose.
earlier, the crowd had delighted in what eventually became a tense encounter for Boulter, who looks likely to become the next British player of either sex to make into the world singles top 100.
Last year she had played American Christina Mchale in the first round, taking the first set and then getting involved in a tight second before losing in a decider.
It looked like history might repeat itself in a similar fashion yesterday when she faltered, serving for the match at 5-4 only to dump a backhand in the net.
To her credit she ensured that it did not.
Instead, Boulter composed herself and rode out a period when the Paraguayan tightened up her game and began asking the right questions.
Fortunately, Boulter managed to come up with all the right answers.