HARRIET DART BEATS CLOSE FRIEND KATIE BOULTER IN WIMBLEDON UPSET AFTER 'EMBARRASSING' LAST CLASH

Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart are friends off the court. They are the same age and grew up together in the sport together. They are team-mates. But for two hours and 56 minutes at Wimbledon all of that was forgotten.

In an engrossing and seesawing match in front of an engaged crowd on Court One, the two best players Britain has to offer duked it out. There was no quarter given as they both chased the same goal: getting one over on their friend to reach the third round of Wimbledon.

Boulter had the clear advantage coming into the match, as the higher ranked player - the seeded player at Wimbledon - and the victor in their last meeting, in the final at the Nottingham Open. And she took a hold of the match first, taking the first set 6-4 as Dart shook her head and constantly looked to her box for reassurance.

Yet Dart's body language changed immediately in the second set, with the British No.2 encouraging the crowd to cheer louder as she grew in confidence. She took the second set at a canter 6-1 to set up a third set, just like at Nottingham last month.

Double-faults came from the rackets of both players, with nerves evident on the biggest stage. And after going 6-2 up in the tie-break, Boulter faltered. Dart ground it out to win the tense tie-break 10-8 and reach the third round.

There was a hug between the two of them at the net before Boulter departed to leave the stage for Dart. "I wear the emotions on my sleeve, so you see everything, how I'm thinking," Dart said post-match.

The previous meeting in Nottingham ended in a Boulter win and contained some controversy, with Dart furious at a crucial line call. Dart offered umpire Kelly Rask a £50,000 bet that the ball from Boulter was out before stating: "The ball is so far out, this is embarrassing. You're embarrassing yourself. You should be embarrassed.”

Speaking before this match, Boulter described their Nottingham match as a “battle”, adding: "Playing a Brit on the grass in the UK is never an easy draw and I‘m expecting a tough battle.

"We’ve played a few times before and I’m going to look at those but it’s about playing the tennis ball, not about playing the person. We are obviously Billie Jean King Cup team-mates on the court but I’ve got to try and forget that and focus on the tennis."

Dart described their relationship before the match. She said: “We're team-mates. We played big tournaments. We've grown up together. We've been close,” Dart said. “It's always going to be tricky, whoever I play, especially when you play a fellow Brit. But it's great to see that all of us are doing well and putting us in positions where we do get to play each other.”

2024-07-04T15:17:33Z dg43tfdfdgfd