Making her Centre Court debut against a home favourite, and seeded No.2 at a Grand Slam for the first time, Aryna Sabalenka knew she had a huge target on her back and that she was in for a difficult afternoon against Katie Boulter in the Wimbledon second round on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old from Belarus has been one of the best players on tour over the past three seasons, picking up 10 career titles – including two this year – and rising to a career-high No.4 in the world. Still, one gaping hole in Sabalenka’s resume is the fact she has yet to reach the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam, and the pressure continues to mount for her to check that item off her bucket list. 

A battling 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Boulter on Wednesday earned Sabalenka a spot in the Wimbledon third round for the first time in her career, and could be just what she needs to gain confidence in her campaign this fortnight. She will next take on Colombian teenage debutante Maria Camila Osorio Serrano or Russian No.32 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the second week.

“It was a really tough match today, she’s an unbelievable player and it was a really, really tough match. I don’t know how – maybe because of you guys, I didn’t want you to be more happy than you were in my match, so I really wanted to win this match,” Sabalenka joked with the crowd, who were strongly in favour of their home player throughout the duel.

“No, no, I mean it was a great atmosphere anyway, I enjoyed it from the beginning until the end, no matter what was the score. I’m really happy with this win.”

Boulter, still digesting the match, said: "I think my first and only takeaway is that it's definitely the best court in the world. I've not had a chance to play on it yet, that's my first time. I absolutely loved every minute out there. The British crowd were incredible. I thought it was a really good match, one I won't forget."

There are 215 places between Sabalenka and Boulter in the world rankings, but you wouldn’t have guessed it from watching the start of their contest on a buoyant Centre Court – their matching Nike dresses hardly the only thing they had in common, as their level of play matched up.

Boulter, who suffered a career-threatening back injury in 2019, hasn’t played much this year at tour level, but gained some momentum from her quarter-final run in Nottingham in the build-up to the Championships, while Sabalenka racked up a tour-leading 30 match-wins this season heading into Wednesday’s clash.

It was a power-hitting showdown of first-strike tennis and Boulter looked unfazed by the occasion of taking on the Belarusian world No.4.

The pair traded breaks in the opening two games, feeling each other out before finding their rhythm on serve. A Sabalenka double fault handed Boulter a 4-3 break advantage and the Brit secured the opening set on the 39-minute mark.

Boulter was under pressure on serve early on in the second but kept pulling off one escape after the other until Sabalenka finally mustered a break with a massive backhand to inch ahead 4-2.

Sabalenka had begun to cut down on her unforced errors, and was causing serious damage with her signature bulldozing shot-making. Serving for the second set, Sabalenka had to stave off a break point before she levelled the match 80 minutes in.

Sabalenka drew first blood in the decider, moving forward 2-1 before Boulter took a medical timeout for her right elbow, which was taped up from the start of the match. The Brit broke right back, at love, upon resumption of play but Sabalenka regained her advantage to forge a 4-2 gap.

A marathon eighth game saw the second seed fend off a string of break points and she gave out a huge roar when she closed out the win in just over two hours.

“Of course I was nervous a lot today, especially I didn’t feel the court well in the beginning and I’m really happy that I found my rhythm back in the second set and I won this match,” she said.

Before walking off court she made an appeal to the Centre Court audience.

“I have one question guys, will you support me the same in the next round as you did [with Boulter] today?” she asked, her query met with resounding applause.

“Thank you so much.”

When Boulter was sidelined for a large portion of the 2019 season dealing with a spinal stress fracture, the idea of one day competing again at Wimbledon was one of the biggest motivating factors that got her through her struggles. The 24-year-old will no doubt take heart from her brave performance on Wednesday.