Karolina Pliskova goes down as the biggest scalp of Katie Boulter's career; Jodie Burrage was able to follow in the footsteps of Boulter by reaching the last-16 in Eastbourne; Ryan Peniston continues his brilliant few weeks by beating Holger Rune
Wednesday 22 June 2022 08:23, UK
Katie Boulter roared back from almost suffering a first-set bagel to knock last year's Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova out of the Rothesay International Eastbourne in the second round.
The 25-year-old trailed 5-0 inside half an hour to the world No 7 but after she got on the board kept with the Czech before she got the Centre Court crowd off their feet on a number of occasions during a dramatic second and third set.
Boulter was able to take five of her 19 break-point opportunities to secure a 1-6 6-4 6-4 win and continue her great form after she claimed a previous career-best scalp over Alison Riske in Birmingham last week.
A gutsy victory over Tereza Martincova on Sunday meant the home favourite walked out for her ninth match on grass this summer and while she faced a formidable opponent, Pliskova had admitted to not feeling 100 per cent back to her best ahead of the match.
The concerns of the two-time grand-slam finalist seemed unfounded after she broke Boulter twice early on but the Brit continued to create break points and earned warm applause after avoiding a whitewash.
It boosted Boulter who continued to make chances on Pliskova's serve and eventually started to take them in the second set to level up the scores.
Four consecutive double-faults by the former world No 1 aided Boulter's cause in the decider but she was immediately broken back to leave the set finely poised.
Having let a 4-2 lead slip, Boulter remained focused and a fine return gave her the chance to serve out the victory. A first match point was saved but after a superb cross-court winner set up a second, this one was not wasted to give Boulter the best result of her career.
"That gave me goosebumps, so thank you so much," Boulter said on-court when asked about the atmosphere at Devonshire Park.
"I am super proud of myself. I went out, didn't feel great and worked so hard to get out there. I battled and fought and to beat a player like that means so much."
Boulter's triumph was followed up later in the day by Jodie Burrage stunning world No 4 and top seed Paula Badosa for the best result of her fledgling career.
The 23-year-old's match took place on Court One while Serena Williams' eagerly-anticipated comeback occurred next door, but the home favourite did not lack support.
Roared on with the sun setting, Burrage kept chipping away at the serve of the Spaniard and sealed a 6-4 6-3 triumph in one hour and 13 minutes.
She admitted: "I'm not sure I have the words to describe how I feel right now.
"I'm over the moon with that win, how I played and handled myself on court. This might take a while to sink in. The last few weeks have been amazing. I had loads of opportunities thanks to the LTA to play these events and I'm loving every minute of it."
Ryan Peniston continued his brilliant few weeks with a 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-1 success over French Open quarter-finalist Holger Rune.
A close opener went the way of the teenager after he decisively broke in the 10th game, but the in-form Peniston stuck with his highly-rated rival and edged a tie-breaker to earn thunderous applause from the crowd.
Rune lost his composure at the beginning of the decider when Peniston produced a wonderful return to a volley at the back of the court to take his first break point.
The Dane smashed a tennis ball out of the court before he whacked his racket against a towel bin to earn himself a warning.
Even though Rune did break back instantly, Peniston stayed composed and secured another break before he closed out this latest impressive result.
He said on-court: "I am very, very happy with that. Tough start but managed to fight thanks to you guys.
"It has been madness to be honest. A couple of weeks ago things were a lot different but now things have changed and I am loving it."
Later in the day Dan Evans joined his compatriots in making it a hat-trick of home wins on Centre Court after he saw off Adrian Mannarino 6-4 6-3.
Harriet Dart's second-round tie with 10th seed Jil Teichmann was suspended at one set all.
Defending champion Jelena Ostapenko stayed on course to retain her title with a straight-sets win over Ajla Tomljanovic and Beatriz Haddad Maia, fresh from winning tournaments in Birmingham and Nottingham, saw off Kaia Kanepi in a decider.
Madison Keys, Camila Giorgi and Petra Kvitova were the other notable seeds to make the third round.
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