Watson to face world No. 298

Wednesday 12th January 2011, 2:29PM GMT.

(Picture by LTA)

ON PAPER Heather Watson has been given a favourable draw in the opening round of qualifying at the Australian Open.

The Sarnian, who became the youngest member of the world’s top 150 after reaching her first WTA quarter-final in Auckland last week, will face world No. 298 Yi-Miao Zhou.

The 19-year-old Chinese player reached a career high of No. 194 in May of last year.

The winner of that match will face either Lesya Tsurenko of Ukraine or the No. 15 qualifying seed Stefanie Voegele from Switzerland. They are ranked 157th and 136th in the world respectively.