The unprecedented run of Harmony Tan at the Wimbledon Championships is showing no signs of stopping after she stormed into the fourth round on Saturday.
Coming into the tournament, the prospects of the French 24-year-old reaching the second week of a major were slim. Not only did she have to get past former champion Serena Williams, who she ousted in three sets in the first round, Tan has never won more than two matches in a row at Tour-level events.
However, that changed at SW19 on Saturday when she swept aside home favorite Katie Boulter 6-1, 6-1, in less than an hour. In what was largely a one-sided performance by the world No.115, she hit a total of 16 winners and won 81% of her first service points. Another telling factor was Bolter’s erratic play which saw the Brit produce a costly 20 unforced errors despite being cheered on by her home crowd.
“For me, it seemed impossible to beat Serena in the first round. I didn’t believe it,” said Tan. “Today (against Boulter) it was a great match because normally she plays really good on grass. I thought It will be a tough match today.”
Tan is making her debut at Wimbledon this year and has so far only managed to record three wins over top 50 players in her career. One of those was against Sara Sorribes Tormo in the second round. Boulter is only the fifth player she has beaten in a Grand Slam main draw. She also reached the second round of the 2021 French Open and this year’s Australian Open.
As for Boulter, she will now have to pick herself up from a bitter loss. After beating 2021 finalist Karolina Pliskova two days ago, she was bidding to reach the last 16 of a major for the first time in what has been a roller-coaster career for her. A couple of years ago a stress fracture in her back resulted in a six-month absence from the sport and more recently she was troubled by a leg injury. In her younger years, Boulter also had to deal with a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
“I think I’m just a little bit emotionally draine if I’m honest. It’s been a long few weeks. I’m not going to even talk about this week. I think this week was the cherry on top,” said Boulter.
“I didn’t really feel like I was penetrating in any way (against Tan). I didn’t feel like I was winning any points off my serve that I normally do, off my groundstrokes. So for me, it was tough. Obviously, as the scoreline shows, it wasn’t an easy battle for me today.”
Tan has been ranked as high as 90th in the world earlier this year and would have likely surpassed that mark if Wimbledon was awarding ranking points this year. They are unable to do so after the WTA took away the privilege in response to the suspension of Russian and Belarussian players due to the Ukrainian war.
“It’s a Grand Slam. I really enjoy it. There are no points but when you play a Grand Slam, I don’t care. It’s a Grand Slam.” She commented.
Getting to where she is now has been far from straightforward for Tan who admits many people had doubted her ability to succeed on the women’s Tour. However, she was given a lifeline thanks to a former player who reached the Wimbledon final back in 1998.
“When I was young they told me that I cannot be a really good player with this game, so it was really tough for me. I didn’t have help and financially it was really hard,” Tan reflects on her early days as a player.
“But there was one person who believed in me. It was Nathalie Tauziat when I was 18, and we worked on that game. I think it works today.”
Tan continues to be coached by Tauziat. She will play her fourth round match on Monday as she aims to continue her fairytale run.
