Second-round jinx strikes again
HEATHER WATSON will have to wait another year to try to reach the third round of the French Open for the first time.
Sixteenth seed Elise Mertens knocked the British No. 2 out of the women’s singles at Roland Garros yesterday as Watson struggled on her serve – being broken eight times out of 10 service games and not holding serve once in the first set.
It was the sixth time the Sarnian has suffered a second-round defeat in the Paris-based Grand Slam.
Mertens, who reached her first Grand Slam semi-final at this year’s Australian Open, was far from infallible on her own serve, too, as the 38min. first set saw a remarkable eight breaks in nine games before the Belgian won it.
Watson then trailed 4-1 in the second set before she rallied, and held serve twice in a row, to level at 4-4 but Mertens then held before breaking Watson for an eighth time in the match to wrap up a 6-3, 6-4 victory in 1hr 27min.
‘I would get on a hot streak and win a couple games, and then I would just make four unforced errors, and that needs to change,’ said Watson.
‘And I had a low first-serve percentage on my serve and wasn’t getting as many free points as I would have liked.’
Watson is still involved in the women’s doubles, though.
She and partner Tatjana Maria beat Manon Arcangioli and Sherazad Reix 6-3, 6-4 in the first round and now face sixth seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova.
Watson and Maria joined forces to great effect in winning in Mexico earlier this year.
