Despite being 10 years older than her opponent and having to rely on a wild card to get into the tournament, Watson dominated from start to finish under blue skies in the Midlands, dispatching the number eight seed 6-0 6-3 in just 62 minutes.
Statistics can lie, but on this occasion they only underline the 33-year-old Sarnian’s masterful performance in this, her first appearance of the year on grass.
Not one double fault served throughout, 82% of points won on her first serve, four out of four break points converted, and 56 points won overall compared to 32 for her opponent.
As Watson knows only too well having played professional tennis since her teens, it rarely gets any better than that.
‘I had a good day at the office,’ she said afterwards.
‘I think my opponent didn’t have her best day but, still, she is so dangerous, so I had to be somewhere near my best.
‘She’s also a really good friend of mine, and it’s never easy to play someone that’s a friend. We’re with each other a lot off the court actually, and spend a lot of time in each other’s rooms at tournaments. She’s someone I’ve had a lot of deep chats with, so it’s not nice [playing each other], but I thought I managed the occasion well and took advantage of her not playing her best tennis.
‘She got better as the match went on and towards the end it was getting closer, but I did a really good job of serving it out and doing it with an ace, that felt really good, and it’s good to get a first win of the year on grass as well.’
Watson will now face Jessika Ponchet of France in the second round, although she was doing her best yesterday afternoon to avoid knowing the identity of her next opponent.
‘I’m not looking at the draw, so don’t tell me,’ she added. ‘I don’t want to think about it yet. I just want to enjoy this one today and let it sink in.
‘To be honest, I don’t even know when I’ll be playing next. I’m just going to take it as it comes. I’ll definitely have doubles [on Tuesday] with Emily Appleton, who I’m going to be playing with all the way through the grass [court season].
‘We’re a new partnership but we get on really well and have been spending more time together recently at the same tournaments, which has been nice, so it made sense playing together.’
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