Dart's tie-break tears leave Boulter down and wiped out

It is the deciding tie-break, and Harriet Dart is losing 6-2 and on the edge of defeat when she walks to the back of Wimbledon’s No 1 Court and begins to cry.

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

Katie Boulter steps to the baseline to begin her service routine, looks up to see Dart’s head buried in her hands, and steps away again. And, whether by design or by accident, whether real or imagined, in that moment this wild match seems to slip from Boulter’s grasp.

The crowd utters a sympathetic roar as Dart wipes away tears, bereft and beaten. Boulter resets. But Dart comes out swinging, winning the next four points to draw level at 6-6 in a race to 10. At 8-8, Boulter’s nemesis all day – her own forehand – sends two balls flying out of bounds, and at the end of three hours of absorbing, error-strewn tennis, Dart has won 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8), through to the third round, matching her grand-slam best. She collapses to the grass and grins.

At which point, it is worth exploring whether this was entirely fair on Boulter. Dart had been emotional throughout, crying at the change of ends earlier in the third set when Boulter had broken back, slamming her racket against her bag in frustration. On several occasions, she chuntered angrily at herself, at her corner, at the grass beneath her feet. Boulter kept her cool and, at the end, offered Dart a gracious hug at the net when she must have been hurting.

Afterwards, a clearly upset Boulter was magnanimous, insisting the better player won. How off-putting was the emotional ride unfurling on the other side of the net? “I mean, I don’t know,” she said a little hesitantly. “I tried not to look too much.” Did the break in rhythm bother her? “I wouldn’t say so. I think she kind of just relaxed a little bit. She was 6-2 down, she’s got nothing to lose at that point.”

If fans had filled Court 1 hoping to see the well-publicised beef between Britain’s top two players unfold, what they got were the understandable results of that rivalry: frayed nerves, tense hands and visceral frustration. “I wear my emotions on my sleeve and unfortunately you see all of that,” Dart said on court after her victory.