Place: Nottingham Tennis Centre Dates: June 12-18 |
Coverage: Daily live coverage on the BBC Red Button, BBC Sport website and app |
Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart won at the Nottingham Open to set up an all-British quarter-final.
British number one Boulter, 26, overcame lucky loser Daria Snigur of Ukraine 7-5 6-3 in a tricky grass court encounter.
Dart, ranked 143 in the world, then beat Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina 6-0, 7-5 to reach the last 16.
Andy Murray plays France’s Hugo Grenier in the round of 16 later on Thursday.
Boulter holds the British women’s No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career after reaching the semi-finals of the Surbiton Trophy last week and pipping Emma Raducanu.
Against Snigur, Boulter squandered seven break points in the sixth game of the first set and the Ukrainian prevailed to take a 4-2 lead.
But despite his mistakes, persistence paid off as Boulter clawed back to level at 4-4 and took the first set in one hour and 15 minutes.
Snigur knocked out Brazilian second seed and defending champion Beatriz Haddad Maia in the first round but appeared to be hampered by a knee problem against Boulter.
The Briton went down another break early in the second set, but Snigur’s knee problems meant she eventually needed a medical time-out midway through the second set.
Boulter took advantage of his opponent being clearly uncomfortable, winning three games in a row before seeing the game out with confidence and reaching a third quarter-final on the Nottingham turf.
“It was an absolute battle, I’m really proud of myself,” Boulter said. “I put my heart into the game and played as well as I could.
“A couple of those games were ridiculous. It was really tough.”
Dart set up a quarter-final against her compatriot after two hard-fought sets against fifth seed Kalinina.
The 26-year-old Briton dominated the first set to win it without dropping a single game as Kalinina battled to break ahead.
But after Dart received treatment for what appeared to be a lower back strain, he was forced to work for second, breaking but fighting back to secure a late break and progress.
“I hope to play more sets like that [first set]” said Dart. “I knew I had to come out firing; I’m very happy to be able to go out in two sets.” [Boulter] good friends but may the best player win tomorrow!”
Another local player, Jodie Burrage, reached her first WTA quarterfinals by defeating third seed Magda Linette of Poland 7–5, 6–3.
Burrage joins, Dart, Boulter and Heather Watson to the round of 16 – and will face Magdalena Frech for a place in the semi-finals.
In men’s doubles, British duo Liam Broady i Jonny O’Mara cruised to a comfortable 6-1 6-4 win over Indians Yuki Bhambri and Saketh Myneni to reach the semi-finals.
In the last four they are joined by their British colleagues Jacob Fearnley i Johannus Mondaywho beat Anirudh Chandrasekar and Vijay Sundar Prashanth 7-6 (7-4) 6-3, and the British pairs could meet in the title match if both win their semi-finals.