Katie Boulter roared her way into the Wimbledon third round for the second year in a row after edging her way through a three-set tussle against Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova.

After her elongated opening round win over Australia’s Daria Saville, which ended on Wednesday, Leicester player Boulter was back on court 24 hours later against a player ranked ten places below her in the world.

The British No.1 was the narrow favourite against Tomova, though she had defeated 27th seed Bernarda Pera in her own opening round contest at SW19.

Boulter wowed her home crowd in a dominant opening set, but Tomova showed just why she had claimed such a significant scalp on Wednesday as she battled back to force a decider.

But it was the 26-year-old who claimed an early break in the third set, and came through a tight service game at the very end to secure a 6-0 3-6 6-3 triumph.

“It definitely wasn’t easy out there,” said Boulter, who is a graduate of the LTA’s Pro Scholarship Programme.

“I was a little erratic at times but I kept trying to back myself and keep reminding myself to go for it. It paid off and I’m super happy.

“She [Tomova] is a top player and I expected her to come back with an even better game in the second set. She definitely did and she made me play a lot more balls, so for me I just had to get used to it, keep backing myself and try to make myself as aggressive as possible.

“I managed to do that at the start of the third and go for it, and that’s what paid off today.”

Boulter came flying out of the blocks in a red-hot first set to ‘bagel’ her helpless opponent and race into the lead.

But a shaky start to the second – including a series of miscued backhands – helped Tomova battle back as she levelled the scores with a significantly improved performance.

Boulter urgently needed to return the tables and a break early on in the deciding set put her in pole position to progress.

The East Midlands player looked pumped up after landing that decisive blow and then delivered a flawless service game when 4-2 up to put her on the brink of victory.

Tomava held her nerve to make Boulter serve for the match but the world No.89 duly delivered to keep her SW19 hopes alive.

Boulter’s second round contest took place on Court 12, where those at SW19 with ground passes are able to taste a bit of show court action.

And she admitted afterwards that throughout the whole contest she revelled in the partisan atmosphere - particularly when she was serving for the match.

Boulter added: “They definitely got me over the line.

“I definitely felt a little bit of tension at the end and I just wanted to go for it. I loved the atmosphere out there.”

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