Given her growing standing in British tennis, Katie Boulter has been tipped for her deepest run yet at this year’s Wimbledon. She may have never progressed beyond the third round before, but she certainly has endurance in her locker.

The British No 1 came through a testing battle against Germany’s Tatjana Maria to set up a second-round meeting with compatriot Harriet Dart after closing out a gruelling victory that lasted over two hours, winning 7-6, 7-5.

Just like Emma Raducanu the day previously, Boulter found herself locked in a duel that went on for longer than she would have liked. Unlike Raducanu, who was given Centre Court billing, Boulter was forced to harness the energy from a packed – and occasionally rowdy – Court No 3 crowd.

The 27-year-old might have felt hard done by to be placed on a less prominent court given the regard in which she is now held. Last month, she beat Raducanu en route to defending her title at the Nottingham Open and in March won the San Diego Open, becoming the second Briton to win a WTA 500 event after Johanna Konta.

Yet Boulter, who is seeded for the first time at Wimbledon this year after requiring a wildcard for last year’s event, had no qualms about where she was placed after her counterpart Jack Draper – the British men’s No 1 – was bumped up to Centre in the wake of Andy Murray’s withdrawal from his singles match in the morning.

In fact, the 28th seed seemed to treasure the intimacy that it offered as she chipped away at Maria’s disruptive game. The German is a tricky opponent who has a decent record on grass – the mum-of-two memorably enjoyed a run to the semi-finals at Wimbledon two years ago before losing to Ons Jabeur – and wasted no time taking control of proceedings early on.

Boulter got off to the worst possible start, losing all three opening games and struggling to navigate her way round Maria’s unique slicing style. The 36-year-old hugged the baseline for large swathes of the match from where she unleashed her trademark disruptive weapon in a ploy to unsettle Boulter, applying generous amounts of spin on both sides of the ball. With the Briton unable to string any sort of consistency together, it was a tactic that paid off in parts.