HEATHER WATSON was up half the night, but still had the wits about her to post two of the best wins of her career over the weekend and earn herself a crack at one of the world’s leading lights in tennis.

After losing her quarter-final at the ITF River Hills tournament in Jackson, Mississippi, she flew overnight to Charleston and with just a few hours sleep behind her won her first qualifying round match at the prestigious $700,000 WTA Family Circle Cup event, which features many of the best players in the world.

Having had to buy two single air tickets at very short notice and at great expense, the Sportingbet-backed Heather and her mother Michelle were up at 4am for the first flight out to Charleston.

Drawn against the 13th seed qualifier, Ekaterina Dzehalevich from Belarus (with a world ranking of 172), the Guernsey star won 6-2, 6-1.

Her reward was a second round qualifying match against Zarina Diyas from Kazakhstan, who has a world ranking of 217.

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