Heather Watson bounces back to grass form to reach third round: Now for Azarenka

Until she hit the clay of England, Heather Watson had won only five main-tour matches this year, as she continued to battle with her form and confidence.

The former top-40 player slipped to 77 by the end of last year and to 119 by the time she failed to qualify for the French Open this summer.

But come the grass of home and the Watson of old emerged: intense, fast, full of variety and energy.

After reaching the final at the ITF event in Surbiton, she came through tough opposition to reach the semi of the important Premier in Eastbourne. There she topped No9 Dominika Cibulkova and No17 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and only narrowly lost out to No6 Caroline Wozniacki, 7-5, in the third set.

It was not enough to get her direct entry to Wimbledon, but with a wild card, she won her opener in straight sets. But her fine form coming into the tournament did not prepare even her greatest admirers for the stunning performance she produced in beating her second opponent, the No19 seed Anastasija Sevastova.

Suffice to say that the Latvian did not seem to know what had hit her as Watson went on the offensive from the start, taking the ball early, striking cleanly, but mixing things up beautifully to take full advantage of the grass. Particularly effective were her drop shots and sliced forehands.

She broke straight away, held to love, broke again, and fired a backhand winner to hold to 15 for a 5-0 lead. She was not done: one more break and she had the set, 6-0, in 19 minutes, and not a single unforced error to her name.

To the uninformed, it would have looked as though Watson was the seeded player here, but sure enough, Sevastova dug in at the start of the second set, and got her breakthrough in the third long game, holding for 3-1.

Watson responded, though, and survived deuces in the fifth game, and broke back to level, 3-3—only to be broken again.

And that seemed to fire Watson up anew. She broke to love courtesy of three blistering return-of-serve winners, held a tough service game, and broke convincingly one last time, 6-4. It had taken her a quality-packed 61 minutes, and into the third round at Wimbledon for the third time in her career.

The challenges, though, keep growing for Watson. It has been her misfortune to fall into the very same section as the returning former No1 Victoria Azarenka, who decided to make her comeback following the birth of her first child last December on the grass.

The Belarusian felt, she said of her earlier-than-planned return to the tour, more than ready to play despite having no matches since last year’s French Open:

“I definitely feel fitter than I ever was before,” she said before her first match in Mallorca a fortnight ago.

And the two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist and former two-time Australian Open champion was as good as her word.

First she overcame a rusty start to beat the talented teenager Cici Bellis after dropping the first set, and then she beat the No15 seed, Elena Vesnina, 6-3, 6-3, and as she promised, looked very fit indeed.

Watson’s additional problem is that Azarenka has beaten her in all four previous matches. Indeed Watson has managed to win only five games in three of those four matches combined. So there is no doubting that the Briton will be up against it.

She commented:

“I think Vika is an incredible player and person. I really respect how hard she works and how focused she is. I look forward to playing her.

“I know she has only just come back, but I expect her to be playing really well because I know she will have put in the hours and the work. You don’t get to where she’s got in her career without being a really good player.”

For now, though, Watson cannot stop smiling.

“I felt very good at the beginning of match, very on it and relaxed, more relaxed than I was in my first match.”

On Sevastova’s attempted comeback in the second set, Watson explained just how important it had been to maintain her intensity.

“Yes, very important: I have to expect she’s going to raise her level and try something new and have to stay calm. But I feel like I’m seeing the ball very big, and I’m moving well.”

The Briton will need to maintain that same intensity for every match ahead. Beyond Azarenka could lie No2 seed Simona Halep, and in the quarters the two-time champion Petra Kvitova—or indeed fellow Briton and No6 seed Johanna Konta.

She will, just like her entire home nation, enjoy it every step of the way.