NAOMI THE BRIT QUEEN
Broady wins battle with Robson
THE late developer beat the one-time shooting star last night as Naomi Broady prevailed over Laura robson in an all-British battle displaced to New York.
The 26-year- old from Stockport, new this year to the top 100, beat the former Wimbledon junior champion 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and 29 minutes of US open combat.
While the quality of the match was uneven, there was no disputing its deeply competitive nature between two players who — unusually for the small parish of British tennis — barely know each other. The statuesque Broady thundered down her 120 mph serves while her disadvantage on groundstrokes, especially the less than metronomic backhand, was not as marked as might have been expected.
robson took the first- set tiebreak 7-4 but then lost the last three games of the second set.
Her opponent did not acknowledge a flukey net cord in the opening set and then took a 10-minute toilet break at the end of the second, leaving robson to stew. The decider became cloying as double faults crept into the game of qualifier robson. She finally sent in a succession of errors at 4-5 to concede defeat. Broady now meets fourth seed Agnieszka radwanska or American Jessica Pegula.
Meanwile Heather Watson plans to have urgent blood tests to reassure herself that she is not about to face another battle with glandular fever.
The British No 2 admitted that she felt symptoms similar to when it hampered her in 2013 as she was knocked out by Dutch qualifier richel Hogenkamp.
Watson called the doctor on twice in the second set and was clearly distressed as she went down 6-2, 7-5, although she did stay on the court for nearly an hour and three-quarters.
‘It was horrible to play,’ said Watson, who contemplated pulling out on Monday evening.
‘I was very ill. I’ve had a fever for the last three days but playing in this heat is almost impossible when you feel that bad. I was struggling to breathe and with my back. I’ve been to see the doctor. ‘I’m going to get some blood tests done and figure out what it was.’ The result was the 24-year-old Channel Islander’s latest setback at the US open, where she now has a 0-6 record. The sequence is all the more peculiar as she has played well on American hard courts and won the junior event here in 2009. As she reflected ruefully, it is an event that ‘ loved the younger me’. Dan Evans ( below) cut a contrastingly happy figure as he consolidated his progress this year with a hard-won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory over American rajeev ram to join Kyle Edmund in the second round. Put on the chaotic outside court No 4, where the stewarding is non- existent and cars beep their horns beyond the fence, the 26-yearold Midlander just about kept his concentration to edge the crucial third set with a late break. He now faces Germany’s teenager Alex Zverev — already 27th seed.