KATIE BOULTER escaped a “nightmare” disqualification – before roaring back to reach the US Open third round and achieve more milestones.
Boulter picked up a code violation for smashing the ball into the crowd in frustration during her 5-7 6-1 6-4 success over Wang Yafan.
Katie Boulter overcame her fiery moment as she made the US Open last-32Rex
Boulter took time to cool down after smashing the ball awayRex
It’s looking sunny for the Brit as she heads towards the top 50
But if she’d hit anyone, she would have faced a shock instant KO from the Grand Slam – as famously suffered by Novak Djokovic in 2020.
Now Boulter, 27, is poised to enter the world’s top 50 for the first time after matching her Wimbledon feat of reaching the last 32.
Yet it could have been despair rather than delight if the ball she whacked at 4-4 in the first set had gone into fans rather than the gangway.
She said afterwards: “The safety of everyone is the most important thing for me.
“It was completely unintentional, and luckily it wasn’t anywhere close to anyone.
“But for a second I was feeling pretty bad, if I’m honest.
“Of course there’s a lot of ifs – it would be my worst nightmare, it really would.
“It was an unfortunate situation, but we moved through, and managed to get a win.”
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Boulter took two hours and 21 minutes to end the 11-match winning run of Chinese qualifier Wang.
The Leicester star blew three set-points in losing the opener, before her big forehand clicked in the next two sets.
And after earning a winnable clash with American Peyton Stearns, she said: “I am super happy with today.
“I am very, very proud of myself. I had to dig really deep. I had a few set points in the first set which I wasn’t able to convert.
“She played some really good tennis and I had to really battle and go for it at the same time.
“I am pleased with my resilience. I think tactically I was trying to be very aggressive and I think I got a little bit tight in the first set.
I bounced back in the second set and managed to loosen up.”
Impressive Wang Yafan won the first set and gave Boulter a huge testRex