Heather Watson and Laura Robson rise in the WTA World Rankings – Tennis News
British tennis prodigies, Heather Watson and Laura Robson, continued to impress everyone and they have improved their singles rankings after the Australian Open. Watson is now holding the world number 40 spot, while her compatriot
and close friend, Robson, is three places below her at number 43. These are the career-best rankings for both Britons and they hope to improve it even further in the running WTA season.
Watson took off the 2012 professional circuit as world number 49 and some early breakthroughs this month have propelled the 20-year-old youngster nine places in the WTA Premier Rankings. She has merely played two tournaments this
year and gathered a total of 190 rankings points to reach the top 40 players’ list for the first time in her career.
She took off her 2013 campaign by registering an upset victory in the opening round of ASB Classic, when the fifth seeded Romanian, Sorana Cirstea, retired from the tournament due to injury. This gave Watson a berth in the second
round but she couldn’t do much against the Dutch contestant, Kiki Bertens, eventually losing the match in three sets.
The Australian Open Grand Slam tournament brought two welcoming victories for the young Briton. She outplayed Alexandra Cadantu in the opening round and then disposed of Ksenia Pervak in the second round after a stiff three-set
battle. Watson eventually fell to the might of the world number four, Agnieszka Radwanska. However, her voyage until the third round of the season-opening Grand Slam tournament yielded her 160 ranking points.
On the other hand, Robson has also improved 10 places in her rankings in the opening month of the 2013 WTA season. She took off the new circuit with a victory against Edina Gallovits-Hall in the opening round of Shenzhen Open but
fell at the hands of Monica Niculescu in the very next round. Robson suffered a first round exit at Moorilla Hobart International, submitting to the eighth seeded Sloane Stephens.
Robson defeated Melanie Oudin in the opening round of Australian Open before she registered one of the biggest upsets of the Grand Slam tournament. The 18-year-old Brit stunned the world number eight, Petra Kvitova, in a nail-biting
second round brawl. Robson finished off the thriller at 2-6, 6-3, 11-9, to reach the third round. However, she was defeated by the hard-hitting of Stephens later.
Both Watson and Robson have been off to a good start to the new season and it is anticipated that either one of the two Britons will end up in the Top-20 this year.
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