2011 Cellular South Cup round 1:Heather Watson defeats Andrea Hlavackova
Heather Watson of Great Britain defeated World Number 97 Andrea Hlavackova in straight sets in her first round match at the Cellular South Cup. She defeated her Czech opponent 6-3, 7-5 and took just one hour and fifteen minutes to qualify for the second
round of the tournament.
World Number 145 Watson, who is 18 years old, took charge of the match from the beginning. She is ranked almost fifty spots lower than Number 97 Hlavackova, but this fact did not seem to interfere with her demolition of the player (particularly in the first
set). She managed to one of her two break points in this set, while Hlavackova was unable to challenge the player with even a single break point. Watson also fired off four aces in comparison with one shot by Hlavackova. The Czech player seemed to regain some
of her momentum in the second set, and challenged Watson to three break points as well as two aces. She also saved half of her own break points. However, the British player still had an edge; she scored three aces and four break points, and won 55 percent
of the points in this set. She managed to win the match 6-3, 7-5.
Watson plays tennis right-handed, and has not turned pro yet. For the majority of her career, she has played on the International Tennis Federation [ITF] Tour. She began playing tennis in 2009, and managed to impress spectators by winning her first title
at Frinton, Great Britain in the same year. She has been coached by Andrew Fisher, and undergoes training at the esteemed Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida, USA. Her tennis debut in 2009 was noteworthy, and resulted in her receiving the outstanding performer
of the year award from the Guernsey Sports Commission Trophy.
Hlavackova, who also plays right-handed, turned pro in 2004. She is 24 years old, and has won five ITF titles during the course of her career. The Czech player is coached by Vaclav Zdrazila, and played her first tennis event in Plzen in her home country.
This year, she was unable to qualify for both the Brisbane International and the Medibank International Sydney. However, she qualified for the first Grand Slam of the year and reached the second round of the Australian Open before falling to eighth seed Victoria
Azarenka.
Hlavackova has defeated Watson once before, when they met on the hard courts of the 2010 Sutton event in Great Britain. The Czech player defeated her opponent 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Their head to head is now 1-all.
Heather Watson will proceed to the second round of the event, where she will face either Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz Gacon or fifth seed Olga Govortsova.
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