The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Watson eyes Wimbledon progress
HEATHER WATSON set herself the target of making the second week of Wimbledon after losing in the second round of the French Open to Simona Halep yesterday.
There was certainly no disgrace in losing to the fourth seed and a player being backed to go on and win the title but it is a measure of Watson’s form and confidence that she was hugely disappointed with a 6-2 6-4 defeat.
The 22-year-old, who will overtake the injured Laura Robson as British No 1 after this tournament, went into yesterday’s match on a nine-match winning streak after claiming a title in Prague and coming through qualifying in Paris.
Watson’s frustration was heightened by the final game, where she had two chances to break back for 5-5 but could not take either.
She said: “Simona played very well, as I knew she would.
“I don’t think I was on my best game. I made a lot more unforced errors than I usually do, and I thought my first-serve percentage wasn’t very high. I wasn’t helping myself getting any free points with that.
“But she made hardly any unforced errors. She made me make those unforced errors. I’ve got to give her credit for that. I felt she was a bit nervous in that last game. So was I, and I didn’t take advantage.
“I’m disappointed that I didn’t do better. I really expected more from myself. It happens, and I’ll just take these weeks as a positive for the grass.”
It is all a far cry from the same time last year for Watson, who 12 months ago was just returning from two months out with glandular fever.
She spent most of the year trying to get fully healthy and an associated loss of confidence resulted in her winning only 10 matches in the rest of 2012.
This year she has already won 26 matches and her ranking will climb signif icantly from its current 92 when the rankings are updated a week on Monday.
Grass presents another great opportunity for a player who reached the third round of Wimbledon in 2012.
Watson will sit out next week’s tournament in Nottingham to allow a twisted ankle to fully recover but will play the WTA Tour events in Birmingham and Eastbourne before Wimbledon.