Katie Boulter stuns Paula Badosa to make British history at Wimbledon
Never before in the open era had seven British players won their singles matches in the same day.
Katie Boulter registered one of the biggest wins of her career to join the rest of the Brit Pack in the Wimbledon second round.
The British number two sank Spanish ninth seed Paula Badosa 6-2 3-6 6-4 on Centre Court for only her fourth win over a top-10 player, and her first in more than a year.
She said: “I think I got one of my first against (Karolina) Pliskova on this court and the moment I stepped out here it just reminded me of that from the first ball.
“I just felt like I had some really good juju going on there and played some really good stuff, I’m happy to be through to the next round.”
It meant seven heaven for Britain with Boulter and six other home stars through to round two, the highest total in a single day in the open era.
It was also sweet revenge for Boulter, who lost in three sets to Badosa in their only other meeting, at the French Open last year.
The 28-year-old had to wait until the early evening to start her match after Carlos Alcaraz’s four-and-a-half hour marathon against Fabio Fognini.
But she seemed to determined not to hang around, racing away with the first set in just 31 minutes, before the majority of the crowd had returned to Centre Court.
Badosa’s timing had seemed way off, but just as she rediscovered her rhythm, Boulter’s deserted her with three double faults from 30-15 gifting her opponent a break to level the match.
Boulter fell a break down in the decider but hit straight back and then struck at 5-4, breaking to 15 to win in an hour and 54 minutes.
However, she revealed: “I was bricking it completely.
“I’ve played a lot of matches recently where I started out great and kind of let it slip. I just tried to compete today and fight.”
Boulter will face Argentinian lucky loser Solana Sierra in the second round on Wednesday.
