Harmony Tan overcomes Katie Boulter, reaches fourth round

London, July 2 (IANS):Unseeded French woman Harmony Tan, playing in the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time, wasted no time in extending her stay here, beating Britain’s Katie Boulter at the Wimbledon on Saturday.

Harmony Tan had defeated Serena Williams in the first round while Katie had gotten the better of 2021 Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova.

The two giant-killers faced each other in the first match of the day on No.2 Court and the French woman was in unstoppable form as she beat her opponent 6-1, 6-1.

The 25-year-old Boulter was playing the third round of a major for the first time. Boulter is ranked No.118 while Tan is placed No. 115, so with the two players separated by only 18 points in the rankings, their clash was expected to be close. But composed from the word go, the nerveless Frenchwoman was always in charge as she forged her way to victory in just 51 minutes.

“I don’t think I believe it yet,” she told the crowd on No.2 Court after the match.

“If I sleep a little bit tonight, maybe I will believe it tomorrow. Today was really good tennis although I don’t know why. It’s amazing. I like grass. And I like to play with slice and volley, so I’m really happy. It was very emotional after the first round against Serena, and now I’m just playing match by match.”

Tan will next play Coco Gauff or Amanda Anisimova for a place in the last eight.