Katie Boulter lived up to her status as British No. 1 as she fought through a tricky tiebreak scenario to advanced to the Eastbourne second round 6-1, 7-6 (8) on Tuesday over Petra Martic.

The unseeded winner joined compatriot Emma Raducanu in advancing at home, with Raducanu putting out Sloane Stephens 6-4, 6-0.

Boulter, ranked 32nd on the WTA, carried momentum from her weekend grass title at Nottingham – her second this season after also winning San Diego – onto the courts of this seaside resort town as she defeated the lucky loser form qualifying rounds.

 The girlfriend of Australian Alex de Minaur swept the opening set against her Croat opponent in 27 minutes but had to battle for more than twice as long to win the second set and the match.

Boulter saved three Martic set points in the second and benefitted from a line-call protest on match point which gave her another second serve. 

She finished with an untouchable winner against the 2023 quarter-finalist here after coming from 5-1 down in the tight decider.

Boulter lost to Martic here a year ago in the opening round and was happy to turn the table in the re-match.

“It was super stressful, I had the loss from last year in my head, so I was happy to turn this one around,” the winner said. “The tiebreak was more dramatic than I had hoped.

“It’s great to come back here and play well. I got the win so I’m happy.

“Petra is a big fighter and makes it tough for you.”

The British national pacesetter is naturally pointing all of her efforts at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday.

“I have nothing to lose this week, I just want to get more practice on the grass – we all need that.

“I’m happy to be playing another match.”

Main photo:- Katie Boulter celebrates winning in San Diego

Despite winning last weekend’s San Diego 500 Open taking her to a WTA World No. 27 ranking, Katie Boulter has been snubbed by the Indian Wells 1000 event starting tomorrow.

Indian Wells decided to use the previous weeks WTA rankings, in which Boulter was ranked 49, not the current ones.

This means not only does Boulter not get a first round bye, and  the 27-year-old now faces a tough opening match  against Camila Giorgi, winner of  four career WTA titles.

It also means her possibility of a good run at Indian Wells has been made even harder as she could face World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round.

Winning the San Diego Open title was the biggest win of her career.

The Brit won the Nottingham Open last year, her maiden professional tour title but the Californian trophy was her first at WTA 500 level.

Had the Indian Wells organisers used the current rankings, Boulter would have taken Elise Mertens place as the No 24 seed.

That would have given her more favourable draw, as Mertens was set to face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova or Xin Wang in the second round.

Boulter failed to make it through the qualifiers at Indian Wells last year, so looking on the bright side, she has a good chance of  picking up even more ranking points.

Main photo:- Katie Boulter beat Marta Kostyuk in San Diego 2024 final – by WTATennis.com