Heather Watson crashed out of the US Open at the first hurdle as she was defeated in two battling sets to America's Lauren Davis on day one. In two tight sets which both went to tie breaks, the talented Davis would prove to have too much to handle for Watson as she comfortably brushed aside Watson in both deciders for a 7-6 (3) 7-6 (0) win.
Watson fails to capitilse on kind draw
Heather Watson had not won a first round match at the US Open in Flushing Meadows. Most previous years her first round opponent had been one of the top seeds, this year she had drawn Lauren Davis. The American is higher ranked that Watson and also had not won a first round match at Flushing Meadows. One of the players was going to break their duck today. Watson was going toe to toe with Davis at the start of the first set. With the score poised on 4-4 the American grabbed the chance to break the Brits serve and lead 5-4.
The British number one was not going to go quitely though and immediately forced the break back to level once more. The set headed into a tiebreak, which is where the American started to dominate, taking the tiebreak 7-3.
In the second set, Watson was starting to struggle with first serves which allowed the American to take an early lead. Again though, the Brit fought back and earned the break back, Watson was still having issues with her serve, however she was still managing to hold serve. At 4-4 the Brit broke the serve of the American to lead 5-4 and to serve for the set. The Brit was broken straight back though after being unable to hold the service game and once more the match was back on serve.
Just like the first set this meandered towards a tiebreak, would Watson be able to pull this set and force a decider. Davis was not about to give in, and with Watson's forehand now not finding the target, the score line went more and more in the favour of the American. The Brit was still trying hard to score points in the tiebreak, but Davis was just too strong in the end. Taking the tiebreak 7-0 to win her first match at the US Open and deny Watson a first round win for another year.