Heather Watson keeps alive her dream of returning to the world top 100

Heather Watson booked her place in round two of the French Open for the second time in her career with victory over world No83 Elena Vesnina today.

The 20-year-old Briton, who qualified for Roland Garros for the second successive season, beat the Russian 6-2, 6-4 in 82 minutes.

Ranked 110th in the world, Watson was one of a quartet of British women in the main draw for the first time since 1991 and today’s straight-sets win owed everything to her positive mental attitude — a legacy of her victory over world No25 Lucie Safarova in Miami in March.

That win reinforced Watson’s belief that she has the skills to get back into the top 100 and she will collect vital ranking points if she can take care of the dangerous Julia Goerges, of Germany, in the next round.

The No25 seed beat Lucie Hradecka 7-6, 6-4 but Watson, whose ranking peaked at 87 last September, said: “What Miami proved is that I can produce the big wins in pressure situations. I absolutely love the courts here in Paris and I think they really suit my game.

“I have just carried on working hard and I knew I had a lot of points to defend here but I just didn’t want to focus on that and I have ended up playing really well.

“I have been working on my serve quite a lot and also to become more aggressive because I have good defensive skills and I move well.

“I have got nothing to lose against Julia and I will be the underdog.”

Vesnina, beaten in the Budapest final earlier this month, reached the mixed doubles final at the Australian Open with Leander Paes in January but made a very poor start to the match.

She took only one point off Watson’s serve in a 30-minute first set.

The Russian, who has beaten Maria Sharapova in a career that took her to world No22, should have been in real trouble when she offered Watson a break point in the second game of the next set only for the Guernsey girl to waste the opportunity as she became too tentative.

Vesnina found her battling qualities in the next game, showing great defence to break and lead 2-1 but Watson rediscovered her poise to break back, getting a drop shot to the amazement of her opponent and it powered her to victory.

It was a win to raise the spirits of British fans at the tournament who had seen Elena Baltacha and Laura Robson lose their first-round matches.

There was never any danger of second seed Sharapova dropping a hair clip let alone a game against Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu, who was thumped 6-0, 6-0 by the Russian in her elegant ‘Little Black Dress’.

It was a performance of clinical tennis excellence from Sharapova, who won the Stuttgart and Rome tournaments to continue her great run of form leading into Paris.

She no longer looks like “a cow on ice” — her own description on past attempts on clay — having found a way of handling the slippery surface to become one of the favourites for the title.

“I am very happy with my form coming into Paris and I feel happier on clay now, ” she said. “I am sure I still look like a cow on ice at times on this surface but I have got better!”