Heather Watson reached the Third Round of Wimbledon, as the British number two took apart 18th seed Anastasija Sevastova in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 at SW19.

In a display of powerful hitting by the 21 year-old Guernsey native, Watson was back to her best as the Briton dominated the world number 19 Latvian for large parts of the contest.

Watson will now play former world number one Victoria Azarenka or 15th seed Elena Vesnina on Friday.

19-minute Britz

Coming up against a player ranked 83 places above her, Watson raced out to an early lead and a double break, to open up a 4-0 advantage in the opening set.

The 102nd ranked Briton, who beat Maryna Zanevska in straight sets on Monday, dominated Sevastova throughout, winning 88% of second serve points, as Watson took control.

Holding serve to move a game away from the opener, the Brit broke again for a triple break to take the set impressively 6-0, as Sevastova recorded the dreaded bagel.

Latvian fightback

After a one-sided beginning to the match, as fans of Heather Watson have witnessed in the past the second set was a familiar tale of unease.

Sevastova took the opening game of the second set to break her home field opponent, holding her own serve to stem the flow of games.

With momentum having begun to swung back to the Baltic 27 year-old, the plucky Watson refused to lie down and at 1-3 down broke back an held to level the scores at 3-3.

Watson refuses to bow

With the pivotal second set on a knife edge, Sevastova broke again with Watson's hard-fought advantage beginning slipping away, only for the Briton to break back to love at 4-4, ramping up the intensity once more.

With the Latvian visibly angered by a number of favourable net cords for her opponent across the net, Sevastova's hitting was driven by frustration which led to errors. Watson held to stand four points from victory.

The Brit steeled herself for one final attack, and took a 0-40 lead for three match points. Sevastova forced an error to 15-40, but Watson's guile was too much for the forlorn 18th seed, as the British number two booked her place in Round Three on Friday.

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Neil Leverett
33 year old writer living in London. Arsenal fan but all rounder, specializing in sporting analysis, in particular football.