Watson looks solid on clay amid Olympic dream

PARIS: From her Channel Island home on Guernsey to Nick Bollettieri's academy in Florida to the red clay of Paris, Heather Watson is showing Roland Garros doesn't have to be a winner-free zone for British women.

Watson, a former junior US Open champion, who celebrated her 20th birthday last week, marched into the second round of the French Open for the second year in a row Tuesday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over world number 83 Elena Vesnina of Russia.

Watson, who last year broke into the top 100 - she currently has slipped back to 110 - slid round the red dirt as if the clay courts are her back yard, her recently remodelled service clicking beautifully into place - particularly in a first set which saw her not lose a single point on first serve.

The softly-spoken Watson, daugher of a Papua New Guinean mother and British father, had to battle through three qualifying matches just to enter the main draw.

But her familiarity with the venue appears to be paying handsome dividends and she was a set up against Vesnina in just half an hour.

A superlative top spin lob put her 4-1 to the good and her confidence grew.

Although her serve - Watson now deploys an elevated elbow service action was slightly off beam in the second set, enabling Vesnina to break in the third game, the Briton recomposed herself to wrap up her win on court six in 82 minutes.

She will meet up-and-coming German Julia Goerges, conqueror of Lucie Hradecka in the next round.

Watson took former champion Maria Sharapova to three sets at the first round of the US Open last year and insists that she has come on leaps and bounds, both mentally and physically since then.

"I'm growing as a player now - I'll definitely be more ready," she insisted. "I've always believed in myself - it's all in the head," added

Watson, stressing that without self-belief she would not be in the game at all.

"I've been working on my game to become a lot more aggressive," explained Watson, who started her season slowly after returning from a sprained ankle before she was fully fit.

"I don't really have a clay background," she conceded, but "I just enjoy playing the long points, working hard for it and building the point instead of just trying to bash winners everywhere."

Should she keep her form going then Watson, British number three behind Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong, could yet make the British Olympic team.

"If I do well here, hopefully I can get in. It would be just a dream for me to play (at the London Games). I'd absolutely love it, whether it's doubles, singles - just to be involved." (AFP)