Australian Open: Boulter battles to gutsy win over Marino to reach second round

No 22 seed Katie Boulter edged out Canadian Rebecca Marino 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to move into the second round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

Adoptive Aussie Boulter had to dig deep in a tight deciding set before finally prevailing with a break in the final game of the contest to come through a testing first-round encounter.

With new fiancé Alex De Minaur watching on from the stands after wrapping up his win moments earlier, Boulter fed off the energy of what felt like a home crowd in Melbourne as she came through against an impressive effort from the Canadian.

“That was way too stressful for me. I would have way preferred an easier match but I mean Marino came out firing today. It is literally because of you guys that I got through this match, so I really appreciate it,” Boulter said following victory.

“That was massively a mental challenge for me. I have been playing great tennis on the practice court and I tried so hard to put that on the match court.

“Sometimes, when you really try to force it, it doesn’t work and I found that out tonight. She was playing great and I know how tough she can be, I’m just thankful I found a way and sometimes that is what these first round matches are about.”

Boulter, ranked No 25, will face the winner of the match between Russian Veronika Kudermetova and Australian Olivia Gadecki next.

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):

• Veronika Kudermetova vs. Olivia Gadecki: tuesday
• Camila Osorio beat Maria Sakkari (31): 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-4
• Ons Jabeur beat Anhelina Kalinina: 6-3, 6-3
• Renata Zarazua beat Taylor Townsend: 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2
• Jasmine Paolini (4) beat Sijia Wei (Q): 6-0, 6-4
• Madison Keys (19) beat Ann Li: 6-4, 7-5
• Shuai Zhang (WC) beat McCartney Kessler: 6-3, 6-4
• Elena-Gabriela Ruse (Q) beat Irina-Camelia Begu: 6-4, 6-0
• Yulia Putintseva (24) beat Elina Avanesyan: 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Danka Kovinic beat Lulu Sun: 6-3, 7-5
• Elena Rybakina (6) beat Emerson Jones (WC): 6-1, 6-1
• Varvara Gracheva beat Catherine McNally: 6-3, 6-4
• Eva Lys (13) beat Kimberly Birrell (Q): 6-2, 6-2
• Dayana Yastremska (32) beat Mayar Sherif: 6-1, 6-4
• Iva Jovic (WC) beat Nuria Parrizas Diaz: 6-2, 6-1
• Emma Navarro (8) beat Peyton Stearns: 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5
• Amanda Anisimova beat Maria Lourdes Carle: 6-2, 6-3
• Emma Raducanu beat Ekaterina Alexandrova (26): 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2)
• Daria Kasatkina (9) beat Viktoriya Tomova: 6-1, 6-3
• Yafan Wang beat Anna Bondar: 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
• Xiyu Wang beat Julia Grabher: 6-1, 7-5
• Erika Andreeva beat Saisai Zheng: 6-1, 7-6 (6)
• Beatriz Haddad Maia (15) beat Julia Riera (Q): 4-6, 7-5, 6-2
• Naomi Osaka beat Caroline Garcia: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
• Danielle Collins (10) beat Daria Snigur (Q): 7-6 (4), 6-3
• Karolina Muchova (20) beat Nadia Podoroska: 6-1, 6-1
• Destanee Aiava (Q) beat Greet Minnen: 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5)
• Elise Mertens beat Viktorija Golubic (Q): 4-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4
• Marta Kostyuk (17) beat Nao Hibino (Q): 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
• Jaqueline Cristian beat Petra Martic (LL): 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7)
• Jessica Pegula (7) beat Maya Joint (WC): 6-3, 6-0
• Jule Niemeier beat Maja Chwalinska (Q): 6-0, 6-1
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27) beat Yue Yuan: 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Belinda Bencic beat Jelena Ostapenko (16): 6-3, 7-6 (6)
• Anastasia Potapova beat Tamara Zidansek (Q): 6-2, 7-5
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-3, 6-4
• Caroline Dolehide beat Sara Bejlek (Q): 7-6 (5), 6-2
• Harriet Dart (LL) beat Jana Fett (Q): 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7)
• Lucia Bronzetti beat Victoria Azarenka (21): 6-2, 7-6 (2)
• Elina Svitolina (28) beat Sorana Cirstea: 6-4, 6-4
• Magdalena Frech (23) beat Polina Kudermetova (Q): 6-4, 6-4
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-3, 6-3
• Ajla Tomljanovic (WC) beat Ashlyn Krueger: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
• Rebecca Sramkova beat Katie Volynets: 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
• Olga Danilovic beat Arantxa Rus: 6-4, 6-4
• Liudmila Samsonova (25) beat Kamilla Rakhimova: 6-2, 6-4
• Talia Gibson (WC) beat Zeynep Sonmez: 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1
• Jodie Burrage beat Leolia Jeanjean (Q): 6-2, 6-4
• Laura Siegemund beat Hailey Baptiste: 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Diana Shnaider (12) beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto: 7-6 (4), 6-4
• Moyuka Uchijima beat Magda Linette: 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (8)
• Anna Blinkova beat Daria Saville (WC): 1-6, 6-4, 7-5
• Cristina Bucsa beat Chloe Paquet (WC): 6-2, 6-3
• Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Sloane Stephens: 6-3, 6-2
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro beat Sonay Kartal: 6-1, 7-6 (5)
• Clara Tauson beat Linda Noskova (29): 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
• Paula Badosa (11) beat Xinyu Wang: 6-3, 7-6 (5)
• Donna Vekic (18) beat Diane Parry: 6-4, 6-4
• Qinwen Zheng (5) beat Anca Todoni (Q): 7-6 (3), 6-1
• Suzan Lamens beat Veronika Erjavec (Q): 7-5, 7-6 (2)
• Leylah Fernandez (30) beat Yuliia Starodubtseva: 7-5, 6-4
• Mirra Andreeva (14) beat Marie Bouzkova: 6-3, 6-3
• Tatjana Maria beat Bernarda Pera: 7-6 (3), 6-4