Harriet Dart produced one of the standout victories of her season as the British wildcard battled past world No.35 Liudmila Samsonova in a dramatic three-set contest at the HSBC Championships at Queen's.
Dart's Gritty Performance
British wildcard Harriet Dart dug deep to upset world No.35 Liudmila Samsonova in the first round at the LTA's HSBC Championship at Queen's. Dart's struggles on tour this year have seen her fall to 160th in the world, but the 29-year-old looked at her combative best.
The two traded early breaks in the first set, but Dart struggled to find rhythm on her serve, with her toss often wayward. Long forehand exchanges pummelled the baseline but were often brought to an end by an unforced error from either side, as neither was willing to back down.
Surface Concerns
Both players complained to the umpire about a slippery playing surface after Samsonova suffered a nasty fall at 5-5, but she dusted herself off to save three break points. The Brit continued to point to her wet shoes in disbelief at the surface, but the umpire remained stony-faced.
And it was Dart who then blinked first, unable to claw herself out of her own service game as the Russian dusted a couple of lines to steal the set. The Brit earned two consecutive breaks in the second set, sandwiching a poor service game of her own when she swatted a ball against the hoardings and chuntered to her coaches.
'You're so bad at tennis, Harriet' was particularly clear, as was a loud shush towards a member of her team.
Decisive Final Set
She closed the set out to love as the clock approached two hours. And an early break opened up some breathing room in the decider. Dart's confidence had grown since her outburst in the second set and she made the seemingly decisive move, breaking Samsonova once more to take it to 5-2.
But the Russian wasn't done, pressing Dart for errors and taking another game to survive. Despite this, Dart was not to be stopped. She hurt Samsonova from the baseline to set up a match point at 5-3 on her opponent's serve. Samsonova's forehand clipped the net cord and went wide.
Dart will face Iva Jovic or sixth seed Antonia Ruzic in the second round. Elsewhere on a rain-interrupted day, Katie Boulter and Canadian Leylah Fernandez went toe-to-toe on the Andy Murray Arena.
Fernandez took the first set 6-3 in comfortable fashion but was pushed by Boulter in the second, who set up a break point only to place her effort wide. The evening sun disappeared behind the stands, and play was suspended at 3-3 in the second set, to be resumed tomorrow.
Such is the dismal forecast, play is set to begin an hour earlier in an effort to wade through the backlog of matches. Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng was dismissed by Jacqueline Cristian in straight sets in the day's first completed match, before former Wimbledon finalist Karolina Pliskova bounced back from a first-set tiebreak defeat to beat McCartney Kessler.
For the latest updates on the British summer grass court season, visit the LTA website.
