Watson digs in for GB's cause

HEATHER WATSON was in imperious form to help Great Britain beat Latvia and book themselves into the finals of the Tennis Europe Winter Cup. The 15-year-old Sarnian star was part of the GB under-16 girls' team at the Jurmala Tennis Club, Latvia, for the qualifying rounds of the competition.

The British went into the event ranked number three and on Saturday they took on number two seeds Latvia in the semi-finals.

Watson got the better of her opponent, Diana Marcinkevica, before winning the doubles with her partner, Tara Moore.

'Heather played a really good match against a tough opponent who was hitting the ball hard and heavy,' said Great Britain coach Iain Bates.

'She played a really positive match to get the team off to a good start. I was really pleased with Heather's performance during the day.'

Britain made the semis after receiving a walkover in the first round after their opponents, Sweden, had gone down with food poisoning on the day of their match.

Latvia made the last four after they defeated Denmark in the opening round.

In their semi-final, U-16 British champion Watson found herself 3-4 down in the first set.

But she rallied back to win the opener 6-4 and then the second set

6-3.

'She characteristically dug in,' said Bates.

However, Watson's good work was cancelled out when Moore lost to Greta Veinberga 3-6, 4-6.

Now one apiece, everything depended on the doubles.

And it was the home team of Marcinkevica and Veinberga who were on a high when they took the first set 4-6.

But again Watson showed great resilience as she and Moore bounced back to win the second set 6-4.

In a roller coaster of a match, they found themselves under the cosh in the deciding set at 4-2 down, but once more they pulled out the stops to take the set and the match 7-5.

'It was not a particularly relaxing afternoon for me on the side of the court,' said Bates.

'It was a fantastic outcome. The girls dug in really well to secure a big win.'

The only downside from the result was that Watson picked up a slight strain in her stomach muscles that saw her miss yesterday's final with number one seeds Russia.

With Lancashire's Nicola George taking her place, the British went down to the Russians but by making the final they had already secured their place in the finals in Ronchin, France, the weekend after next.

'Heather is going to have a couple of days to recover and then we've got a practice week at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton before we go to France,' said Bates.