Winner: Heather Watson
(Picture: REUTERS)Forty third time lucky. For 42 previous Grand Slams, Heather Watson had never made it to the fourth round.
At Wimbledon in 2015, she had come agonisingly close to the last 16 and pulling off an upset when a break up against Serena Williams.
Her opponent this time, Kaja Juvan, was not quite in the calibre of Williams but pushed the Briton close in the opening set before Watson round off a 7-6 6-2 win.
This was the fifth day in a row that she has played at Wimbledon due to the vagaries of the English weather and the timing of her matches. But there was no sign of fatigue in an initially tense match which then became increasingly one-sided.
Watson has had a propensity in her play of tightening up when the pressure builds and there were times she did just that against Juvan. At points, it resulted in the home player’s second serve being clocked in the low 70s.
But she made it count in the clutch moments, a predominantly aggressive approach, great movement on the grass and a solid defensive game absorbing her Slovenian opponent’s barrage of heavy groundstrokes.
The 30-year-old had a first break-point opportunity in game four but could not convert it while Juvan took her chance at the first time of asking to go 4-3 up, as much down to a blip in Watson’s serving than anything coming from the other side of the net.
If Watson had been in tight in that game, Juvan returned the favour the very next game, Watson getting the break at the end of rally which appeared to go to all ends of the court.
In the tiebreak, she had three set points and got ready to celebrate on the first of those thinking Juvan’s shot had landed in the tramlines only to see it dip in. But despite the 21-year-old clawing back all three set points, Watson took a tight set which could realistically have very easily gone either way.
The second set could not have been more contrasting. In the opening set, Watson converted just one break point, it took her just one game of the second to clinch another.
From there, she upped the aggression as a slightly lost-looking Juvan initially seemed to capitulate.
But with Watson serving for the match at 5-0, there was the threat of a comeback when Juvan broke. Then the second time serving for the match proved an epic game, nearly ten minutes long and with a litany of deuces before Watson wrapped up the win with a lovely volley.
This is her best result at a Slam at the age of 30 and could not have been better timed in a year when she has dropped out of the top 100 and won just seven matches prior to this.
Afterwards, she said: “It wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t a bit of drama at the end. What an atmosphere. First time in the fourth round, I’m so happy. Playing her at home, the atmosphere is everything. Please can all of you come back for my fourth round.”
