Watson’s poor run continues as she falls at first hurdle in Miami
BRITAIN’S Heather Watson was knocked out of the Miami Open in the first round with a straightset defeat by Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Haddad Maia, ranked 64th in the world, won 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 and will play Zhang Shuai in the second round. It is Watson’s sixth consecutive loss since reaching the semi-finals of the Hobart International in January.
The 25-year-old lost to Victoria Azarenka in the first round at Indian Wells earlier this month.
Watson, ranked 72nd, served for the opening set at 5-4 but fell a set down after Haddad Maia raced through the tie-break.
Following an early break, the South American controlled proceedings in the second set.
Canadian Eugenie Bouchard beat American wildcard Allie Kiick 6-2 6-2.
Bouchard, a former Wimbledon finalist who has fallen outside the top 100 in the world rankings since reaching a career-high fifth in 2014, fired seven aces as she dispatched Kiick.
Yanina Wickmayer also advanced but needed nearly two and a half hours to earn a 6-4 6-7 6-4 win over Olivia Rogowska. ENGLAND arrived at Twickenham on Saturday looking to bully Ireland up front, but those days are long gone. With a pack as destructive as the eight Joe Schmidt has moulded, it was the visitors who turned the tables on the 2017 Six Nations champions.
Ireland’s current group of forwards are a hugely effective unit that now cause opposition teams sleepless nights.
Greg Feek’s impressive work since becoming scrum coach in 2014 is now paying rich div- idends and the IRFU’s foresight to introduce an Elite Scrummaging Programme the year before has helped to develop an abundance of options.
The emergence of Tadhg Furlong as unquestionably the best tighthead in the world has of course helped Ireland build strong foundations off the setpiece, but it is also worth acknowledging Cian Healy, who has rediscovered the kind of form that had people talking about him as the number one loosehead around.
The Leinster prop was perilously close to having his career cruelly cut short by a serious neck injury, but his resilience to bounce back has been remarkable.
Locking down the scrum has allowed Schmidt to launch his intricate strike plays.
Ireland lost just one scrum out of their 37 across the competition, as well as winning a couple against the head, which is a fair achievement for a pack that refuse to take a backwards step.
Perhaps it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Schmidt’s side were so dominant at scrum-time, because in last year’s Six Nations they won all 31 of their scrums. One hundred percent records against Fiji, admittedly not a scrummaging superpower, followed an outstanding display against the Springboks.
Casting the mind further back to the summer’s tour of America and Japan, Schmidt was handed an ideal opportunity to test different options.
This gave Healy the platform to re-establish himself as Ireland’s first-choice loosehead.
“He really grew when I saw him in Japan on tour, and he just started taking charge,” Feek said of Healy’s resurgence.