Riske and reward as Boulter claims victory

The Brit had been out of action for 10 weeks before returning last week at the Rothesay Open Nottingham, where she made the second round.

Riske finished as runner-up in Nottingham and boasts a pedigree of 50 grass-court victories, 13 WTA tour finals and is ranked world No.35. It is Boulter’s highest-ranked win and her first top-50 victory since October 2018. She will now face former-world No.4 Caroline Garcia (FRA) in the second round.

“I’m really happy. It was a no pressure match, so I could go out and play my best tennis,” said Boulter, who has struggled with injuries in recent season. “The work I’ve been putting in is starting to show and I believe it’s going to come out. Being a fighter is my best attribute and out there I know I can draw on that whenever I need too.

“When the crowd get involved, like today, it lifts me. I actually missed them so much.”

Boulter’s win means that two British women are through to the second round in Edgbaston. Boulter’s compatriot Harriet Dart will take on former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the second round on Wednesday.

British duo Harriet Dart and Sarah Beth Grey reignited their partnership with a win over Polish pair Katarzyna Kawa and Katarzyna Piter 6-2 7-5. Middlesex’s Dart and Lancashire’s Grey hadn’t played together since they reached the ITF Reims final in October 2020 but picked up where they left off advancing into the second round after one hour and 13 minutes on Court 2.

Former LTA Rothesay International Easbourne champion Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) began her grass-court campaign in Birmingham with 6-2 5-7 6-3 win over Canadian Rebecca Marino in just over two hours. The world No.16 recovered in the final set to set up a second round match against Dayana Yastremska (UKR).

“I’m glad that I managed to win the match. I played really well, until 6-2 5-1. The biggest opponent to me was myself,” said Ostapenko afterwards. “Generally everybody expected me to win so it put on a little more pressure. I was seeded No.1, so mentally I knew I had to win this match.”

Catherine McNally (USA) earned her first main draw victory at the Edgbaston Priory Club as she upset the No.4 seed Elise Mertens (BEL) 3-6 6-4 7-5. The qualifier had to battle from a set down, but ultimately outlasted the doubles No.1 after two hours and 35 minutes.

Two-time Classic champion Petra Kvitova is also out after losing in two tight sets to last week’s Rothesay Open Nottingham champion Beatriz Haddad Maia.

n Tickets for this week’s Rothesay Classic Birmingham are still available via https://tickets.lta.org.uk/

n Serena Williams will play singles at Wimbledon after being awarded a wild card.

The 23-time grand slam singles champion made a tearful exit in the first round at the All England Club 12 months ago after retiring during the first set against Aliaksandra Sasnovich due to a leg injury and doubts had been growing about whether she would play again.

But yesterday Williams posted on Instagram: “SW and SW19. It’s a date. 2022 See you there.”

It was unclear whether Williams, now ranked a lowly 1208, was intending just to play doubles but a hastily brought forward announcement from Wimbledon regarding its wild cards revealed she will be in the singles draw.

The 40-year-old will make her return to competitive tennis next week at the Rothesay Eastbourne International, where she has been given a wild card into the doubles with Tunisian Ons Jabeur.