Wimbledon 2019: Nervous Heather Watson hits ‘table tennis serve’ into floor on HER side of the net in first game of the tournament in 7-6 6-2 win
NERVOUS Heather Watson kicked off her Wimbledon 2019 campaign with a nervy string of serves in her first game of the tournament – but fought valiantly to win the match 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.
The British star, 27, hit a double-fault on the opening point in front of the Court 12 crowd.
Looking to shake off the rust, Watson’s next first-serve bounced BEFORE it even reached the net in a shaky start.
The world No122 lost the game, broken in her first attempt, as both her and 17-year-old opponent Caty McNally continued to drop games on their own serve.
Watson did manage to claw her way from behind to win the first set 7-6 (7-3) – but was twice staring defeat in the face.
On two occasions, American McNally was serving for the set, but gritty Watson battled to force a tie-break – storming to 7-3.
FIRST WIN OF 2019
In the second set, Watson finally got out of second gear as she broke her young opponent twice en route to a 6-2 win.
It was Watson’s first win in seven attempts this season – with McNally now 0-3 in 2019.
The Brit has only battled past the first round of Wimbledon on four occasions in nine tries prior to this year.
She will now look to better her best-ever performance at SW19 – as she reached the third round in 2012, 2015 and 2017.
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After Watson clung on in taking the first set into a tie-break – her experience against the American rookie began to pay dividends.
McNally was in the Wimbledon main draw for the first time and her inexperience took its toll after losing the first set from a winning position.
In contrast Watson is making her tenth appearance on the lawns of South West London and the former British No1 made easier work of seeing out the 1hr 40min match on Court 12.
Even so she needed four match points before clinching a hard-earned victory to reach the second round.