Watson heads to the doctor after defeat
SUFFERING from illness, Heather Watson fell at the first round stage of her sixth successive US Open yesterday at Flushing Meadows.
Now the 24-year-old Guernsey player will have tests that she hopes will rule out the possibility that she is again suffering from glandular fever.
Out on court 14 in the first match of Tuesday's schedule, the British number two went into her contest with qualifier Richel Hogenkamp in the knowledge that her Grand Slam record in New York read played five, lost five.
However, she would have been confident of victory here, as her world ranking of No. 73 was a sizeable 92 places higher than her Dutch opponent.
That hope did not turn into reality, though, and despite battling hard in the second set, it was Hogenkamp who prevailed 6-2, 7-5.
'It was horrible to play – I was very ill today,' said Watson to the waiting media soon after her elimination.
'I've had a fever for the last three days, but playing in this heat is almost impossible when you feel that bad.'
More in Wednesdays Guernsey Press.
