Wimbledon lost its last British singles player and its unofficial poster star on Saturday night when Katie Boulter was hurried out of the Championships by defending champion Elena Rybakina.
The world number three from Kazakhstan crushed the hopes of the Centre Court in short order but at least in doing so the crowd, who had waited until mid-evening, were given a superb display of grass court tennis.
As well as Boulter had done to survive until the third round, the chasm in class in was evident as she fell 6-1 6-1 in only 57 minutes, helpless to stem the flood of winners coming from the other end.
A consolation will be £131,000 in prize money, a place in the top 100 solidified, and the distinction of being the last domestic player out of the main events. She will now be left to concentrate on the mixed doubles, in which she is partnering boyfriend Alex De Minaur, who was watching from her support box.
Boulter was especially powerless against the booming serve of her opponent, one of the best shots on the entire women’s tour.
‘I’m really happy with my serve, it is a weapon in my game,’ said Rybakina afterwards. ‘It was a really long wait and a bit tough, but we have got used to it.’
Katie Boulter became the last British singles player to exit Wimbledon as she lost on Saturday
Boulter suffered a defeat in straight sets to defending champion Elena Rybakina
The players did not end up walking on court until just after 8.45pm, the consequence of elongated matches and a rain delay which caused a 50-minute hiatus to the previous contest as the heavens opened in the early evening.
That meant that there was barely two hours to complete it before the compulsory 11pm curfew – something that was not to be tested – and there were large gaps in both the stands and the Royal Box with some people clearly having to have left for the day.
Once again the Centre Court seemed to take longer to dry than Number One, where play restarted quicker despite the roof being closed more slowly.
While there is a limited amount anyone can do about squally showers, Wimbledon was again inviting problems with its insistence on a 1.30pm start which is designed to push play into the evening, in an era when matches are getting longer.
There was frustration for Boulter as she was beaten in just 57 minutes by Rybakina
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Handling a long delay is a science in itself, in terms of pre-match eating and warm-up, and neither player would have had huge experience in this area.
For Boulter it was a return to the Centre Court a year after she knocked out 2021 finalist Karolina Pliskova, whose big serve and heavily-hit groundstrokes make her slightly similar to the defending champion.
Rybakina had not had the perfect build-up to Wimbledon, complaining about the lingering effects of a virus, but she had been hardened up by two wins over seasoned opponents in the past week, ans she proved a different proposition to Pliskova.
For Boulter, with barely a top 100 victory to her name this season, it was a huge step up in class against the phlegmatic Kazakh.
Despite her slender build Rybakina can strike the ball with easy power, using her long levers. Boulter, however, can fight fire with fire and early on was smacking the ball into the corners in response.
Rybakina has the highest ace count on the WTA Tour by some distance, and in her first two service games she kissed the lines with three of them.
Among her varied skill set is also an excellent return of serve, and in the fourth game the pressure told when she forced a second break point, happily accepting it when the British player made a mess of an attempted backhand dropshot.
The crowd was desperate to lift someone who has acquired an unusually high profile for her stature in the game, but Rybakina was to pound another ace down the ‘T’ to consolidate the break for 4-1.
The unflappable Rybakina compounded the damage for Boulter with a second break
It was a huge step up in class for Boulter against the phlegmatic Kazakh on Centre Court
Firing the ball like a tracer missile, the unflappable Rybakina compounded the damage with a second break, as it became ever clearer why she had broken from the pack a year ago to claim the title.
The first set was gone in just 26 minutes when the world number three sent down a sixth ace of the match. It was not that Boulter was doing anything especially wrong, she was just getting outhit from the baseline.
The 26 year-old from Leicestershire has spent much of the year playing on the second-tier ITF tour, where you simply do not encounter this level of ball strike.
To have had any chance Rybakina would have to play below herself, which was simply not happening. She broke again at the start of the second, and had won 17 out of 19 points on first serve by the time she moved to 3-1 up.
Boulter could not compete with the flat groundstrokes coming in her direction, although she got a sniff of a break back at 4-1 down in the second with the tide engulfing her.
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