Britain's Katie Boulter upset Ekaterina Makarova in three sets to move into the second round. The two women were the first two players to go through the new Australian Open rules of playing a match tiebreak to 10 when the final set reaches 6-6.
Boult-ing Start, Stuttering Middle, Boult-Ing Finish
The Brit flew out to a 5-0 lead with a mixture of precise hitting plus some errors from Makarova. Makarova earned an audible obscenity warning after yelling in her native language. A mishit double-fault into the bottom of the net made it 1-5 on the changeover, and it may have been the beginning of a momentum shift.
Makarova began to start firing away and brought it back to 4-5. The Brit reeled off the next two points and thought she had won the match at 7-4 in the tiebreak, something she alluded to in her post-match press conference.
Despite the error in thinking she had won, she remained focused, despite saying how hard it was to rebound from that, and won 10-6.
Post-Match Words
Boulter said that the umpire said that at 6-6 the tiebreak was to 10, but she was so focused on herself that she didn't hear her. When asked about her expectations, all she wanted was to enjoy the moment and to have fun. She wants to stay focused on the right things and try not to think about winning or losing.