Katie Boulter went from entertaining the Princess of Wales to earning herself an audience with the Queen of Wimbledon.
Two days after Her Royal Highness dropped in on her opening match, Boulter removed Viktoriya Tomova in three sets to book a third round clash with reigning champion Elena Rybakina.
She then warned she would not be turning up simply to make up the numbers.
“It’s a huge moment for me and I’m not done yet,” declared the British number one, through to round three for the second year running.
“I’ve got nothing to lose and I’m looking forward to it.”
What a difference a day made as Boulter knocked the door down with her power and ambition for fellow Brit Liam Broady to follow her through shortly after.
Her opening win had been overshadowed by eco-protesters scattering pieces of a jigsaw mixed with confetti all over her court.
In the biggest match of Boulter’s year she found herself down on her haunches searching for missing pieces and wondering what she had done to deserve such an indignity.
Twenty four hours later she was on her guard, fearing another invasion from the Just Stop crew.
It meant she was ready when hit by a coughing fit from a spectator and a bee bothering her as she tried to serve.
The 26-year old simply shrugged it off, breaking Tomova in the opening game and sweeping the set 6-0 inside half an hour.
In so doing she showed the benefits of sessions with a sports psychologist. Even the smell of freshly cooked pizza wafting across the court could not take her mind off the job.
“That's a lot of credit to me,” she said. “I've worked super hard mentally. It's not easy playing these matches when there's a lot of things going on. But you've got to stay in the zone. And I did that.”
Although Tomova bounced back to win the second set, Boulter kept her focus to close the match out 6-3 and book her date with Rybakina, who beat injury-hit Alize Comet in straight sets.
“Every time I come off the court, I think my ceiling for patience and my strength seems to go up through the roof,” said Boulter, whose reward is a career-high world No.78 ranking.
“I think I’m playing really well so I tried to dig deep, as much as I could, and stick to my game plan, back myself. And today it paid off.”
