'It is unbelievable'

HEATHER WATSON has been touched to hear her exhibition match is a sell-out.

All 480 tickets for the free event went in two days from the Town offices of Sportingbet, who sponsor Watson and are backing the event.

The Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist, who turns 17 next month, is taking on former junior star Nick Crawley at 11.30am on Saturday at Kings Life.

One local sports fan, Michael Terrot, even camped outside Sportingbet all night to make sure he got his hands on a ticket when the premises opened last Friday.

'I can't believe it,' said Watson (pictured) about the response.

'It's great that one guy waited outside Sportingbet, that's such a nice thing to do. It was really sweet of him to do that.'

The catalyst for the large turnout is the fact that Watson has enjoyed a meteoric rise since qualifying for Junior Wimbledon last June, where she reached the quarter-finals of the doubles competition.

Besides winning her gold in Pune, India, in October, Watson said another highlight of the last 12 months was her first ever Grade 1 ITF victory at the Yucatan World Cup in Mexico a month later.