Watson is in it for the long haul
HEATHER WATSON’S resurgent form continued yesterday as she progressed to the quarter-finals of the Lexus W100 event in Shrewsbury, giving her an interesting scheduling dilemma in the process.
Having thrashed Olympic semi-finalist Anna Karolina-Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-1, 6-1 in the first round, the Sarnian found the going slightly tougher against gutsy British qualifier Sarah Beth Grey who put up some fierce resistance, particularly during the first set.
Ultimately Watson’s consistency and experience saw her through to the last eight with a 7-6, 6-3 win, much to the pleasure of the majority of the crowd gathered around the Centre Court at the Shropshire venue.
Having spent the past few weeks playing tournaments in Asia, Watson had been planning on returning whence she came this weekend. Now that looks unlikely to happen.
‘I’d been in Korea where it was so hot that it wasn’t even tennis, more like survival of the fittest, before heading to China,’ she said.
‘I wanted to stay out there for more, but didn’t want to hang around a week hoping to get into a tournament where the [ranking] cut-offs were so strong that I might not get in. That’s why I decided to come back, get some rest and relaxation, and play here before going back to the Far East.
‘If I did well here, then I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to Tokyo qualifying [at the Pan Pacific Open]. If I didn’t do well here, then I was going to try and make Tokyo qualifying. Now I’m doing well, it doesn’t look as though I’m going to make it.
‘What I’m saying is that I flew halfway around the world to play [in Shrewsbury] knowing I might be flying back after one match. But it’s paying off. There’s no place like home, right?’
Watson will now face Chloe Paquet of France for a place in the last four, in a tie scheduled to take place later today.
