US Open 2013: Day 2 - Battling Watson falls to Halep



Watson played some wonderful tennis but fell to Halep



US Open 2013: Day 2 - Battling Watson falls to Halep

After wins for Dan Evans and Laura Robson on day 1 it was the turn of British No.2 Heather Watson to take to the New York stage. 

While Watson's draw was not as bad as her first round opponents in the last two years - Maria Sharapova and Li Na - it was still unkind as in the white hot Simona Halep she faced a player sky high on confidence having won four titles in the summer including victory in New Haven over Wozniacki and Kvitova just before the Open.

But against the form book it was Watson who came out the stronger and broke the World No.19 for an initial 2-0 lead with some aggressive hitting.  Although Heather was broken in the third game she broke again to lead 5-3 and, after failing to serve it out, she broke in the tenth game to lead against the 21st seeded Romanian.


Heather was playing aggressively and winning points at the net as well as in her comfort zone at the baseline.  She was largely serving well while outhitting Halep in most of the long rallies and was firing more winners than the Romanian who was not close to the form she displayed in New Haven.  
The 2009 Junior Champion was looking set for a wonderful win and a big upset.  Although she was broken in the fifth game of the second set she broke straight back and led 4-3.

Watson got to 30-all on Halep's serve in the eighth game and then crucially led 40-love serving at 4-4.  Heather wanted to get down a big first serve but was missing and Halep reeled off five straight points to break for 5-4.  It was a big moment.

Heather was frustrated in defeat but displayed some great form

The momentum was now with the higher ranked player and Halep levelled and raced into a 3-0 lead in the decider. Heather got one of the breaks back but was broken again and - with both players struggling physically at the end - it was Halep who came away with a 4-6 6-4 6-2 win to move into round two.

Of course very disappointing for Heather to lose such a hard fought battle it was a very heartening display from the British No.2 and really showed that her game is coming back following her battles with glandular fever.  I hope she gets a kinder draw in New York next year, she deserves it!!

Women's draw round-up

There were other eventful matches in the women's singles with Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka winning 6-0 6-0 in the night session while Australian No.1, and 2011 Champion in New York, Sam Stosur letting slip a 7-5 4-2 lead and losing to 17 year-old American qualifier Victoria Duval.

While Azarenka's score looks crushing her opponent German Dinah Pfizenmaier holding 11 game points, whilst playing some excellent tennis, but proving just unable to capitalise. Azarenka meanwhile was sporting a rather unflattering high waisted outfit which to me did not make her look too lean.

Elsewhere in the women's draw both Caroline Wozniacki and Petra Kvitova overcame plucky opponents to get through to round two. 2012 semi-finalist Sara Errani dished out a double bagel to Australian Olivia Rogowska who years ago impressed against then sky high Dinara Safina.

I was disappointed to see Mirjana Lucic-Baroni fall to USTA 18&U Champion Sachia Vickery 6-4 6-4.  The 31 year-old Croatian came through qualifying with ease but let slip a 3-1 second seed lead against the American youngster.  Such a shame for Lucic-Baroni as awaiting in round two is the very beatable Julia Glushko who defeated the free falling Nadia Petrova.

Men's draw round-up

No major upsets on day two with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Tomas Berdych, John Isner, Milos Raonic and Tommy Haas all progressing.

2011 champion Djokovic and five-time winner Federer both looked impressive in their straight sets victories on Arthur Ashe over Ricardas Berankis and Grega Zemlja respectively.

Seeds departing were Nicolas Almagro (15), Grigor Dimitrov (25) and Juan Monaco (28) who retired against Florian Mayer.

However the biggest upset saw the swift exit of Wimbledon semi-finalist Jerzy Janowicz as the 14th seeded Pole struggled in a 6-4 6-4 6-2 loss to Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez and even threw in an underarm serve at one stage.  Perhaps he was not the best pick to reach the last four on the cement!

Follow my US Open thoughts on Twitter http://twitter.com/TennisCJD