In a close battle between the British No.1 and No.2, Dart came back from a set down and overcame a 6-2 deficit in the match tie-break to win 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(10-8) in just under three hours.

Dart acknowledged that she left it all out on the court as the 27-year-old’s greater consistency helped her clinch her first tour-level win against her compatriot having lost their only two previous meetings.

“I knew it was always going to be a really tough battle,” Dart said. “We played only a few weeks ago and it didn’t go my way. I wear my emotions on my sleeve, so you see everything how I’m thinking unfortunately.

“My head-to-head is woeful against her so I wasn’t expecting too much but this time I just tried my best out there and even though I was down in that tie-break I just thought give it everything, have no regrets and I’m really pleased to have battled my way through.”

It’s Dart’s 11^th career win against a top 50 opponent and she’ll need another if she wants to reach the fourth round for the first time in her career. She will face China’s Xinyu Wang, who knocked out fifth seed Jessica Pegula earlier in the day.

Pleased to get the victory, it marked another landmark for the British No.2 on her biggest stage to date.

“I haven’t played on No.1 Court since I played mixed doubles a few years ago and it’s so nice to get my first big win on a stadium court in front of a home crowd, it’s really surreal.

“I’m so happy to be able to get through and thank you so much for the support, it was so fab.”

It was a cagey start from the British pair with both just trying to work their way into the match and find some rhythm.

Boulter had to dig deep to save four break points to make it 2-2, before a fourth double fault and a series of unforced errors from Dart gave the British No.1 the first break of the match.

The 32^nd seed slowly started to get the upper hand in more of the rallies with Dart’s serving woes continued. Despite the frustration, Dart managed to hold facing break points again at 5-3 down but it wasn’t enough to prevent Boulter serving out a tight set after 55 minutes.

The pair had a close three-set battle when they last faced each other at the Rothesay Open Nottingham and Dart came back fighting early in the second.

Now it was over to Boulter to have a wobble on her opening service game of the second – propelling Dart to a 3-0 lead. Boulter quickly found herself struggling to get into points while Dart hit a sudden hot patch in form – ripping a forehand down the line for a winner to seal the double break and ramp up the crowd.

The writing seemed to be on the wall for Boulter as she saw three break points come and go before Dart came through two marathon games to seize a 4-2 lead, but there were more twists to come in the all-British rollercoaster.

Out of nowhere, the British No.1 conjured up her best level of the game. She started to paint the inside of the lines with a flurry of winners of both wings and in the end, it seemed only apt that this match would be decided by a tie-break.

Boulter shot out to a 6-2 lead in the tie-break but it was the inconsistencies that would again prove her undoing. Dart did everything she could to stay in the rallies and in the end it proved effective. Boulter’s unforced error count for the match hit 75 and she fired another forehand long, Dart clinched her eighth point in the last 10 to seal a win that will live long in the memory.