HEATHER WATSON

What was shaping up to be a thoroughly miserable season for Watson has taken an upward turn. With her ranking outside the top 100, the 26-yearold was forced to drop down to the second-tier ITF circuit and was rewarded with a final appearance in Vancouver earlier this month. Having never previously won a senior match on eight previous visits to Flushing Meadows, Watson was in fine form through three qualifying matches and will now bid for her first main draw win when she comes up against Russian Ekaterina Makarova today.