Heather's heroics in vain
HEATHER WATSON won her singles, but she and Andy Murray were agonisingly beaten in the early hours in Perth to leave Great Britain's Hopman Cup hopes hanging by a thread yesterday.
Earlier in the day, Watson had bailed out her big name colleague Murray with a superb singles win, but the pair were then edged out in a thrilling mixed doubles decider against Australia Green.
In a topsy-turvy match – which summed up how the whole day unfolded – it was home pair Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova who won through 6-2, 6-7 (0), 11-9.
The victory puts Australia on two wins from two ties and they know that another win over France tomorrow will see them qualify for the final – regardless of how Great Britain fare against Germany.
But it was a good day It was certainly not a bad day all round for Watson, who picked up a notable scalp in beating World No. 36 Daria Gavrilova, who is 19 places higher in the rankings than the Guernsey woman.
Meanwhile, the draw will be made tomorrow to determine Team GB's chances of progression from next month's Fed Cup campaign in Israel.
Watson has been named as one of the provisional six-player squad for the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, with Judy Murray whittling it down to four before the tournament.
Her ranking means Watson is almost certain to be part of the final quartet for the Euro/Africa Zone Group One campaign, which is drawn into four round-robin pools from which two qualification play-off matches are then played.
More in Thursday's Guernsey Press.
