Advertisement

Beck battles past Watson in Wimbledon epic

Heather Watson in action against Annika Beck on day Three of the Wimbledon Championships Credit: John Walton / PA Wire/Press Association Images

Guernsey’s Heather Watson squandered three match points as she lost an epic battle against Annika Beck in the first round of Wimbledon.

At 10-9 up in a titanic third set on Court 12 the Sarnian had 0-40 on Beck’s serve, but the world number 43 fought back to win three games in a row to progress.

In a rain affected match Watson looked set for a fairly routine defeat having been two breaks of serve down on two occasions.

The British number two then levelled the match at 4-4 before the tussle really took shape.

After plenty of ebb and flow Watson’s big chance came in the 20th game of the set. But with three match points she lacked a killer touch and Beck was able to restore parity.

From 10-10 Beck broke Watson straight away before holding her nerve to serve out the match.

Watson’s world ranking will suffer having reached the third round in 2015 before losing to world number one Serena Williams.