Teenager Louisa Chirico earned her first ever tour-level win at the Citi Open upsetting British number one Heather Watson. It was a comprehensive performance from the American wildcard taking out Watson 6-3, 6-0 in what was an impressive first win for her. We’re sure they’ll be many more victories to come from her.
String of games proves vital for Chirico
Chirico hails from Morristown, New Jersey and is one of the American teenagers who are set to make some noise for years to come along with Madison Keys, Taylor Townsend, Sachia Vickery, and CiCi Bellis. The match started with a trade of breaks before each woman would held for 2-all.
It was dominance for the New Jersey native after that. In that ninth game of the opening set, Watson actually had three chances to take the game and force the American to serve out for the set. However, she saved both at 40-15 down and on Watson’s advantage. The third time was the charm for her as she converted on her third set point to seal the opening set.
She reeled off four of the last five games in the set to take the opener 6-3. Only when she was broken was the only time Chirico found difficulty with her serve. Other than that, she would go on to only lose two points on her serve in three service games.
Chirico finishes Watson off with a bagel to seal first tour-level victory
If there was any worry about the teen having nerves just being a set away from that elusive first victory, she shrugged it off rather fruitfully with a straightforward hold to start the second set. Watson squandered an opportunity to nod the second set at one-all at 40-30 then all of a sudden found herself a break down.
Once again, that break set a signal off in Chirico’s head as she ran a freight train on Britain’s number one. In the next three games, the teen dropped only four points, two of which came on her own serve. The Brit looked mentally distraught, maybe the effects of not being able to serve out the match against Serena at Wimbledon haunted her still.
In what was the longest game of the match, Watson continuously fought off match points from the American as it looked like she was about to crack mentally with her first tour-level win on right in front of her. Watson saved three match points but could not convert on her four game points to extend the match. Chirico sealed the deal on the fourth match point off of a double fault from the Brit. The celebration was very subdued with how she clinched the victory, but on the inside, she was probably jumping with joy.
The American dominated both the serve and return statistics. She won 79 percent and 60 percent of points on her first and second serve respectively. Watson had paltry numbers winning 47 and 37 percent on serve. The teen won nearly 60 percent of her return points and had 12 break point opportunities and converted six of them. Meanwhile, Watson took and converted her lone break opportunity and won less than 30 percent of return points. Next up for Chirico is the winner of the match between fifth-seeded Alize Cornet and qualifier An-Sophie Mestach.