Katie Boulter ready to bring battle spirit after Badosa victory at Wimbledon

Katie Boulter is ready for more battles as she targets a best-ever run at Wimbledon.

The British No.2 was forced to fight hard to earn one of the best victories of her career against world No.9 Paula Badosa in the first round but is under no illusions that the hard work stops there.

The Woodhouse Eaves native faces lucky loser Solana Sierra, world No.101 on Wednesday as she looks to equal her furthest run in SW19, and the 28-year-old hopes she can carry the fighting spirit that beat Badosa into her next encounter.

“It's going to be an absolute battle,” she said. “I'm certainly not looking towards round three, round four.

“I'm looking at getting my body ready, enjoying the good moments, moving on and getting myself ready for a second round.

“I'm not necessarily going to look into the future. I think you can easily get caught up just after a good win.”

Boulter knows the potential pitfalls too well, as she crashed out in the second round last year following an error-strewn performance against compatriot Harriet Dart.

Her performance against Badosa looked briefly to be heading the same way, as three double faults in one game gift wrapped the second set for the Spaniard.

But Boulter showed plenty of grit to rally in front the Centre Court crowd to earn the fourth victory over a top 10 player in her career.

“Centre Court at Wimbledon, as a Brit, against a top-10 player, for me doesn't get that much better,” she added.

“I feel like I've come into this slam the best possibly I could have been prepared. It's nice to see it actually pay off, because it could have easily switched that way.

“It is one of the reasons why I do play tennis, to win matches like that, and to have a go at the best in the world. I do feel like it is one of the best ones for sure in my career.

“I just decided to go for it in the big moment, and it came out the right way, so I'm happy. I took it to her. Actually I felt like I won the match rather than I relied on someone else's mistakes or something else.

“I feel like I went out, I committed to my game, I laid it on the line, I put my heart on the line, and I just went for it.”

Boulter will hope her new more aggressive style can carry her into the unchartered waters of the second week at her home Slam.

Victory over Sierra on Wednesday will set up a third round tie with either Cristina Bucsa or last year’s semi-finalist Dona Vekic, with Australian Open Madison Keys potentially waiting further down the line.

Claiming the scalp of a top seed gives Boulter a real shot of a deep run but she knows there is still lots of work to be done, even if she is ready to seize her chance.

“I'm going back to my process. I take every day at a time,” she added.

“I feel like I've been building for a while now, but I just haven't quite made it over the line. This is the first step of that. I'm very well aware there's a lot more steps to take before I can call it the best week of my career.”

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