Success has been about as rare as steak tartare for British women at the French Open over the past two decades but if it was not for Heather Watson, their record would be an awful lot worse.
Since Clare Wood reached round two in 1994, the nation has managed a paltry six wins but Watson now owns four of them after a hard-earned 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Mathilde Johansson of France. A wild-card now ranked No228 in the world, Johansson reached the third round here three years ago and on a day when a stiff breeze made clean hitting difficult for everyone, Watson did well to recover from 4-2 down to win the first set. She then saved a set point in the second before winning the last four games to advance to round two for the fourth time.
Johanna Konta so nearly made it seven British female wins in 21 years but she was beaten 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 by the Czech Denisa Allertova, missing eight set points in an opening-set tie-break which she eventually lost 19-17. “I gave it my all out there,” she said. “I don’t believe it really went wrong anywhere. Overall, I was happy with how I fought and how I continued to try and find a way. Unfortunately it didn’t go my way today.”
With just one win in her past four clay-court events, Watson’s confidence was brittle but there’s nothing like a win to boost the spirits and the 23-year-old, whose ranking of 45 is just seven short of her career high, stayed focused against an opponent who one minute was slapping outrageous winners and the next spraying wild errors.
“I think I dealt with the important moments and points well,” said Watson, who will now play Sloane Stephens after the American ousted the former world No1 Venus Williams 7-6, 6-1. “I won them when I needed to win them. I didn’t necessarily do anything special. She was returning very well and hitting a lot of winners. But I knew she was going to, so I just made sure I stayed there, because I was also expecting some errors as well.”
Watson has beaten Stephens all four times they have played, including in Hobart in January, when Watson went on to win the title. “Every time I’ve played her I’ve played very well,” she said. “I’ll be a bit nervous but very pumped because I want to make it to the next round.”
Twice the champion in the past two years, Maria Sharapova has become a huge favourite at Roland Garros but the ever-fickle Paris crowd reminded her who’s boss on Monday. Having coughed and spluttered her way to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, Sharapova refused the customary on-court interview in favour of a hot shower and a change of clothes and was promptly booed.
“I totally understand [the booing],” Sharapova said. “Everyone usually does post-interviews and answers a few questions to the crowd. It’s absolutely normal. I’m not making any excuses but I’ve got to do what I have to do.”
The No2 seed now plays her Fed Cup team-mate Vitalia Diatchenko. “Unless I’m really in my coffin, I’m going to be out there,” she said.
