Out on Court 18 on Tuesday morning, Britain’s Harriet Dart eased past Bai Zhuoxuan at Wimbledon, sending out a statement that the World No 100 should not be forgotten in the shadow of Katie Boulter or Emma Raducanu.
Playing a Brit in the UK on the grass is never an easy draw, and I’m expecting an absolute battle. We’ve played a few times before, but for me it’s about playing the ball and not the person. Katie Boulter
She powered through, 6-4 6-0, in just over an hour, and will now face her compatriot Boulter, who played later in the afternoon with rain interruptions and won against Tatjana Maria from Germany.
Jessica Pegula, the World No 5, could be the 3rd-round opponent for either of them, the only other player to finish on both sides of the rain delays.
Dart was the first British winner on Day 2 of The Championships at Wimbledon, after she produced an accomplished display to beat the Chinese qualifier in straight-sets.
First up on Court 18 at 11am, Dart had to be patient against the World No 95, and endured an hour’s rain delay before she claimed her win after 68 minutes of play.
This was Dart’s 9th match in a productive grass-court season, following a fine run to the quarter-finals in Eastbourne, but an early double-fault hinted at nerves.
A 99mph ace helped settle the 27-year-old from Hampstead, and she began creating chances on Bai’s serve, with 2 break points squandered in the 8th game not long after the umpire asked a ball girl to collect a champagne cork from the turf.
After a superb forehand winner clinched an important hold from deuce at 5-4, Dart finally broke Bai to take the opener, despite the light drizzle now failing across the grounds.
The momentum remained with the British No 2, playing under the watchful eye of BJK Cup Captain Anne Keothavong and Iain Bates, the LTA’s Head of Women’s Tennis.
She struck a wonderful cross-court winner to force an early break at the start of the second, and romped away with 5 games in a row, only for her run to be checked when the rain started to get heavier, and play was suspended at 12.11pm.
The delay failed to knock Dart off her stride, who struck an excellent return winner arrowed down the line to secure another break, before the win was sealed when Bai double-faulted to suffer a bagel as the Brit booked her place in the 2nd round of Wimbledon.
“In the last few weeks, I’ve had some really good matches, some have gone my way, and some haven’t,” Dart said later. “I’ve been trying to build on it, and I played some good tennis, I was really clinical out there and I’m proud of that.”
Katie Boulter, the British No 1, got the better of a tight 3-set match against Dart in the 1st-round at Nottingham last month, and the two will now meet again for a place in the 3rd-round, which would be the first for Dart since 2019.
“We had a really tough battle in Nottingham, she’s playing incredibly well,” Dart said. “But whoever you play at a slam, it’s going to be incredibly tough.
“I look like such a baby looking back at the photos [of 2019], but I’m definitely a better player now. I feel like I’ve improved on so many things, and I’ve still got a lot more to improve on.
“You can’t take any of these moments for granted, because you don’t know how many years you’re going to play, or what’s around the corner.
“Going out in round one [in 2023] was quite heart-breaking for me, but also put me in a place where I had to dig deep from. I think things happen for a reason, and, this year I just want to focus on the process, and how I can put myself in a position to win matches.”
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Late on Tuesday afternoon, Boulter, who was a wild-card this time last year and now is the 32nd seed and the British No 1, found her way past the tricky German, Tatjana Maria, 7-6(6) 7-5, on No 3 Court.
The 36-year-old mother-of-two, who was a semi-finalist here in 2022, produces wicked slice off both wings that is all the more effective on grass, and has a canny tennis brain, and it took Boulter some time to figure out her way past, as she initially struggled with both her patience as well as her serve.
“She’s so tough to play against and makes me work for everything,” the 27-year-old said. “I’m looking forward to the ice bath.”
Maria’s heavy slice and relentless fight made it a difficult contest for the Briton, who came back from a break down in both sets to edge out a close victory.
Boulter had the power, but was undermined by some errant serving and volleying, and she needed to pick up her game to find the necessary angles and lines to stay with the more defensive Maria.
After a tight first set Boulter’s greater will finally won out in the breaker, but Maria did not fade away in the face of that disappointment, playing two sublime points to level at 4-4 in the second.
Boulter eventually edged her way past, striking an impressive 49 winners to counter-balance her 52 unforced errors, compared to Maria’s count of 19 winners and only 17 miscues.
She will face Dart for the 8th time on Election Day, and despite her impressive head-to-head record she knows this one will be tough, not least because Dart’s mother is a member of the All England Club.
“She has been here since she was a tiny tot with her mum,” Boulter said. “It’s going to be extremely tough and I have a lot of respect for her. We know each other’s game inside out, and back to front.
“Playing a Brit in the UK on the grass is never an easy draw, and I’m expecting an absolute battle. We’ve played a few times before, but for me it’s about playing the ball and not the person.”
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Britain now has 5 women in the 2nd-round at Wimbledon, something that has not happened since 1987, as Boulter and Dart join Raducanu, Sonay Kartal and Lily Miyazaki, who made it through on Monday.
Wild-card Fran Jones, though, failed to join them, despite roaring out of the blocks against Petra Martic, and then fading to lose, 3-6 6-1 6-2, out on Court 15 late in the day, the 23-year old hindered by cramp.
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