Heather Watson showed few ill-effects of her hard quarantine in a hard-fought 7-6, 7-6 victory over Kristyna Pliskova in the opening round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
In a repeat of last year’s first round in Melbourne, Watson came away with the same result in two tight tiebreaks.
She was never behind in the first tiebreak and was credited for her aggressive play to take it 7-4. Early in the second set, she fell 3-1 behind following an early break by Pliskova but broke back to force another tiebreak, which she won 7-3.
Afterwards the 28-year-old, now ranked 60th in the world, said: “It’s always a tough match against Kristyna. I know her very well. We played here last year, we’re the same age, grew up playing against each other in junior tournaments.
“She’s got a really big serve so it’s kind of like a men’s match in that sense – always trying to hold serve, try as hard as you can to get involved in service games.
“I’m very pleased with how I played the tiebreaks. I thought I stepped up my game when I needed to and played some of my best tennis in the big moments.”
Watson, who lost her only warm-up match after her 16-day hard quarantine, is now bidding for a place in the third round at the event for the first time in her career. She now faces Anett Kontaveit in round two.
And the British No1 admitted that yesterday had been the first time her body had started to feel better since been confined to her hotel room because of a Covid case on her flight out to Australia.
Australian Open 2021 - In pictures
Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka was among those to struggle in the conditions, having difficulty breathing and needing the trainer as the No13 seed was knocked out 7-5, 6-4 by Jessica Pergula.
There were shocks on day two in the men’s draw. Roberto Bautista Agut, seeded 12th and a quarter-finalist in Melbourne two years ago was beaten in four sets by Radu Albot while No13 seed David Goffin was despatched in a five-set marathon by Alexei Popyrin.
