This Is Guernsey

Heather Watson and Tara Moore, right, pose after their very late evening second-round win. (Picture by Aaron Scoones, 0601493)

I DON’T think I’ve ever felt as tired after watching any game of sport as I did on Wednesday evening.

You can list all the sporting cliches you want to describe Heather Watson and her partner Tara Moore’s three-set victory over Katarzyna Piter and Romana Tabakova. A rollercoaster, a cliffhanger, an epic of Old Testament proportions, more twists and turns than a bucket of oily eels – take your pick.

In a nutshell, the British pair coasted the first set before having to claw themselves back into the running at 4-4 after being 4-1 down in the second.

They lost the set and then had to fight off match point in the third before the match found itself at seven games all. Watson and Moore proceeded to dig deep to win the set 9-7 and the match.

I was an emotional wreck come the end of it as was Heather’s mother, Michelle, who was also sitting court side throughout the entire match.  ‘When they saved that match point, I knew they’d win,’ she said.

‘I’m just really emotional. It was totally up and down.

‘I’m very proud of them.’

The victory sees them through to today’s quarter-finals when they take on Australian pair Sally Peers and Isabella Holland.

Peers has a junior world ranking of 71 while Holland’s is 43, whereas Moore’s is 117 and Watson’s is 132.

Watson’s ranking was 227 until her good showing at last week’s Roehampton ITF Juniors.

During that competition, Watson beat Holland and this will buoy her as she faces the Antipodean again this afternoon.

Watson and Moore are not the only British girls making good progression in Junior Wimbledon, pointing to the sport’s future being rosy on these shores.

Laura Robson has been showing why she is being touted as Britain’s great hope in the women’s game.

The 14-year-old, who lives in Wimbledon, has attracted headlines in the national dailies after she easily got past Melanie Oudin in the second round, 6-1, 6-3.

Robson’s 16-year-old American opponent is the world number two ranked junior   and was expected to walk away with the Junior Wimbledon title as the tournament’s number-one seed.

After all, Oudin had also beaten the left-handed Robson in the final of the big tournament at Roehampton, to claim her third grade one ITF title of the year.

Oudin had also taken care of Watson at Roehampton.

Now the tennis world has been waxing lyrical about Robson’s victory over Oudin this week.

‘It was an awesome display from Laura,’ said Carl Maes, head of women’s tennis at the Lawn Tennis Association.

Robson subsequently took care of Lesley Kerkhove of the Netherlands in the third round.

She was not the only British girl to make the quarter-finals with Naomi Broady also making the last eight.

The statuesque Broady has endured a chequered past.

Her LTA funding was withdrawn last year when pictures of some of her off-court antics were posted on a social-networking website.

The 18-year-old seems to have put the incident behind her as she has collected some big scalps along her way at Wimbledon including the world number seven Ana Bogdan of Romania and Austrian Nikola Hofmanova.

It would be nice to see a British girl lift some silverware come the end of the weekend.

But of course, let’s hope that it’s Watson and Moore who, the worsening weather permitting, are due to  play on court three this afternoon, third on after Robson’s girls’ singles  semi-final and another girls’ doubles quarter-final.

Article posted on 4th July, 2008 - 2.29pm