Watson and Maria on a roll at SW19
HEATHER WATSON’S excellent form in the doubles competitions at Wimbledon over recent years is showing no sign of abating.
The 26-year-old from Guernsey – a champion and runner-up in the mixed doubles at the All England Club in 2016 and 2017 respectively – booked her place in the third round of the ladies’ pairs on Friday evening alongside Tatjana Maria, beating the No. 11 seeds Raquel Atawo of the USA and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany.
It was an emphatic showing from start to finish by the Channel Islander and her German partner who required just 1hr 5min. to see off their highly fancied opponents 6-3 6-1 on a packed Court 14.
Yet Watson is refusing to get carried away, despite her past glories on Wimbledon’s famous grass courts. She’s been around long enough to know that tennis has a habit of biting you on the bum when your head threatens to run away with itself.
‘I dream before the tournament,’ said Watson.
‘I’ve always felt the same, ever since I was a little girl. I’ve always wanted it so much. It’s always the goal, to win, but you’ve just got to take it match by match and try not to look too far ahead.
‘We mostly focused on ourselves out there rather than what they were doing. We obviously talked tactics and were prepared for how they were going to play, but we stuck to our game plan and executed it really well again – stay aggressive, for whoever’s at the net to keep looking to cross for the volley, be prepared for how they’d be hitting the ball, that kind of thing.’
Watson and Maria have yet to drop a set in this year’s ladies’ doubles competition having cruised through their first round tie 6-2 6-2 against the Chinese pair Chen Liang and Shuai Zhang.
Next up they face the unseeded duo of Christina McHale of the USA and Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia for a place in the quarter-finals, the latter certainly proving her worth at this year’s Wimbledon where she’s also reached the fourth round of the ladies’ singles.
The only fly in Watson’s ointment so far from a doubles point of view is that she has yet to launch her mixed pairs campaign alongside regular partner Henri Kontinen of Finland.
The first-round match to determine their opponents was not played until Saturday, meaning the earliest they can start is today. Their opponents will be Marcin Matkowski of Poland and Mihaela Buzarnescu of Romania.
More in Monday's Guernsey Press.
