French courts suit my game, admits Watson
BRITAIN’S Heather Watson confessed her love for the French Open after again reaching the competition’s second round with an accomplished victory over Russia’s Elena Vesnina.
Watson last summer became the first British female in 28 years to qualify for the Grand Slam at Roland Garros and yesterday continued her impressive form with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of Vesnina. Julia Goerges awaits in the next round but Watson’s conviction, having come through the tournament’s qualifiers, is understandably strong.
“I absolutely love the courts here,” said the world number 110. “I think they really suit my game. The atmosphere is always great, and I always seem to have quite a bit of support here.”
Watson, 20, meets Goerges tomorrow, wherein victory would strengthen her hopes of competing at London and, having recovered from an ankle injury that had previously undermined her ambitions, will approach the match with freedom.
“The past few years she’s [Goerges] really climbed the rankings and done very well. But I’ve got nothing to lose. I’m going to go out there and play well and just give it my best.”
Fellow Briton Andy Murray cruised into the second round with a 6-1 7-5 6-0 defeat of Japan’s Tatsuma Ito, though his success went unequalled by British number two Anne Keothavong, who lost 6-1 6-2 to Melinda Czink of Hungary.
Murray started sensationally and, though the second set proved more challenging, played to his potential again in the third before revealing his pleasure at both the nature of his win and the condition of his back injury.
“It was good, I played one bad game on serve to let him back in but everything else was pretty good,” said Murray. “My back is fine and hopefully it will keep getting better each day. I’ll do all the right things so that it feels as good as possible.”