Watson bows out after marathon quarter-final tie

HEATHER Watson is out of the Thailand Open after being beaten in three sets by Chinese seventh seed Wang Xinyu in the last eight.

The 30-year-old Briton was defeated 3-6 7-6 (6) 4-6 over two hours and 40 minutes in Hua Hin in what was her first quarter-final in 18 months.

Watson was broken in the seventh and ninth games en route to losing the opening set.

The second saw both players broken four times before Watson triumphed in the tie-breaker to level the match, with world number 81 Wang then making another break at 3-3 in the decider that proved the difference.

Watson, currently ranked at 160 in the world, was already guaranteed to climb back into the top 150.

■ Great Britain captain Leon Smith is preparing his squad for a very “complicated” Davis Cup Finals qualifying tie in Colombia on clay.

The main challenge - aside from a demanding travel schedule and the 16-hour time difference having flown from Australia - is the fact the matches will be played at an altitude of 2,600 metres and with pressureless balls.

Smith selected the highest ranked team, with British numbers one, two and three - Cameron Norrie, Dan Evans and Jack Draper, called up for the first time - all making the trip alongside doubles players Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury.

“When the draw came out we knew this was probably the most complicated fixture we could have,” Smith said. “Colombia is a really strong team anyway, but when you factor in the logistics of coming from Melbourne for most of our players, changing surface, but of course the altitude, it is something that needs adaptation.

“The ball is probably the main thing and that is why we came early, to have seven or eight days preparation which is longer than usual for Davis Cup.”

While Andy Murray missed out on selection for the tie, Draper, 21, had been called up for the first time after his rapid climb from outside the top 250 at the start of last year to now rank an excellent 40th in the ATP singles standings.