Katie Boulter credited her hard-hitting as key to a win against former Eastbourne champion Elena Ostapenko at Devonshire Park.

The Leicester 27-year-old came head-to-head with fifth seed Ostapenko at the LTA’s Rothesay International, off the back of the Latvian suffering a shock exit at the LTA’s Rothesay Classic Birmingham in the first round as reigning champion last week.

The British No. 1 broke the world No. 13 early before earning a hard-fought first set.

At the start of the second set, the pair exchanged breaks and Ostapenko came back but Boulter held her nerve in the decider.

She said “Honestly I was just trying to slap it harder than she was, she hit such a good ball, you never know what’s going to happen.

“It’s completely in her control and I just tried to be as aggressive and consistent as I could be and make her play every single ball.

“Today it paid off and I’m very happy.

“That feels awesome, I’ve always come to this tournament and absolutely loved playing here, the more wins that I can get the better, especially with Wimbledon coming around the corner.

“I’m completely faking it until I make it, inside I’m bubbling away but I try and do my best to be positive, I do think it can make a massive difference in my toughest of moments to perform my best.”

Boulter continued her run from defending her title at the LTA’s Rothesay Open Nottingham and bounce back from illness which saw her retire last week at the LTA’s Rothesay Classic Birmingham.

She is the leading WTA Tour player for grass-court wins this season and believes her Nottingham title helped grow her confidence exponentially.

She said: “It’s definitely taken a lot of pressure off me, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this grass-court season, it’s a slightly different situation for me.

“I thought I’d come out here having fun, I’m enjoying myself and today was a match where I had nothing to lose, just swinging away.

“I’m very happy with my level.

“It’s the best feeling ever because I’ve got quite a big team and I’ve been adding to my team so it’s nice to have people popping in and out and be able to be here.

“For me, it’s been so nice such a great team behind me and they’ve been pushing me and making sure I’ve been doing everything correct.”

For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA website