HEATHER WATSON’S meteoric rise continues.

She yesterday defeated Melanie South, who was in the world top 100 players earlier this year, in the first round of the $50,000 AEGON Pro Series tournament in Barnstaple.

The last five weeks has seen the 17-year-old make massive strides in her career since winning the US Junior Open at the start of September.

Watson, who receives financial support from Sportingbet, currently has a senior ranking of 681 in the world while South, 23, is the Great Britain number four and has a world ranking of 142.

In February she was ranked 99.

Wild-card Watson defeated the tournament number two seed in straight sets 7-6 [10-8 in the tie break], 6-2.

‘She really played a great match against a player more than 500 places above her and six years older than her,’ said Sportingbet’s head of tennis, Dominic Woolland.

‘She was at her tenacious best. She was waiting for her opponent to make mistakes and then her superior fitness told in the second.’