Britain’s Heather Watson (pictured) secured a place in the French Open second round for the second successive year, beating world number 83 Elena Vesnina of Russia 6-2 6-4.
The 20-year-old world number 110, who won three qualifying matches to reach round one, looked assured from the outset and broke the Russian twice to take the first set in 30 minutes.
She forced Vesnina into successive errors to create the first break in game four, and a delightful top-spin lob landed on the baseline for 4-1.
Employing a new elevated elbow position in her service action, Watson lost only one point on serve in the first set, and a double-fault from Vesnina put the Briton in control.
Watson’s delivery did however come under pressure in the second set as Vesnina sealed her first break in game three when her opponent fired wide.
But Watson displayed impressive speed to level at 2-2 with a sliding backhand pass and when Vesnina netted to lose serve again, it was 6-2 4-2.
But the Russian was far from finished and reeled off some sweetly-hit forehands to level at 4-4.
However, Watson showed superb composure to capture a love hold in game nine before breaking again winning in one hour 22 mintues and booking her place in round two where she will now face Julia Goerges of Germany.
Meanwhile, Laura Robson unfortunately followed in the footsteps of Elena Baltacha, losing her opening match to Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, 6-2 6-1 in an hour and ten minutes.
Afterwards she said, “It was a really tough match against one of the most experienced clay-court players out there. She gives you no free points.
“I definitely played aggressive and had a lot of opportunities. I was disappointed I didn’t take them at the end of the first set and the start of the second.
“I started making a few more errors in the second set. It was disappointing and I have lots to work on especially consistency on my first serve going into grass season.
“I’m looking forward to the grass and getting some good results there. It’s fairly obvious I’m not a natural on clay.”
Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
Photo credit: James Jordan Photography
