HARRIET DART broke down in tears after squandering a break lead in the deciding set of her Battle of Britain clash with Katie Boulter at Wimbledon… but amazingly still managed to win.
The Londoner, 27, had led 4-2 in the crucial third set, but saw herself fall 5-4 behind after dropping her serve.
During the following change of ends, Dart buried her head in her towel and sobbed.
To her immense credit, she then regrouped to get up and hold serve to stay in the contest, levelling at 5-5.
Boulter, 27, had taken the first 6-4, after both players struggled to find their best form.
Between them they hit 10 double faults during the opening set, with seven coming off the racquet of Dart.
The Londoner regrouped brilliantly in the second set, taking it 6-1 to force a decider.
She continued to be the better player during the first half of the third set, racing into a 4-2 lead, even having a break point to go 5-2 in front.
At this point her level dropped, with Boulter winning three consecutive games to go 5-4 in front.
During the following changeover, Dart sobbed – but she managed to find her form again impressively.
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PRIZE MONEY for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is a new record – and puts the grass-court Slam at the top of the tree.
The All England Club will dish out £50million across all the events – an increase of £5.3m and 11.9 per cent on last year, where singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova picked up £2.35m each.
However, the king and queen of grass this July will collect an extra £350,000 – taking the winner’s earnings to £2.7m.
Here is the breakdown for the 2024 Wimbledon singles prize money:
Both players then exchanged holds, with Dart holding her nerve to take it to a match tiebreak to 10.
More tears flowed as she went 6-2 down in the breaker.
But incredibly she managed to come back again, taking the tiebreak 10-8.
Following her defeat, Boulter looked in disbelief, but did give Dart a cordial hug at the net – despite their rivalry.
The Leicester-born star hit an astonishing 75 unforced errors during the match, a statistic that ultimately went on to be her downfall.
Dart will play Wang Xinyu in the third round, after the Chinese star upset fifth seed Jessica Pegula.
The former quarter-finalist was beaten 6-4 6-7 6-1 over on No2 Court.
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