Heather Watson wins US Open girls' singles title in New York, beating Russia's Yana Buchina 6-4, 6-1 at Flushing Meadows.
There may have only been a couple of hundred spectators standing or sitting around Court Seven at Flushing Meadows, but it was a significant occasion for British tennis, with Watson, a teenager from Guernsey, becoming the first British girl to win the junior version of the US Open. Watson’s victory showed that Laura Robson is not the only young talented British female with genuine hopes of going on to become a top-100 player in the women’s game.
In the final, the 17-year-old dropped just five games against Yana Buchina, the Russian who had beaten Robson in the semi-final. The only other British player to have won a junior title here is Andy Murray, who was the boys’ champion five years ago.
Ever since Robson won last year’s junior Wimbledon title, the focus has almost all been on the Londoner, rather than on the girl from the Channel Islands, whose father Ian runs the Guernsey electricity company, and whose mother Michelle is originally from Papua New Guinea.
But that may change after Watson’s 6-4, 6-1 victory. Watson’s surge to the trophy has been impressive, as she conceded a total of just 11 games in her quarter-final, semi-final and final.
In the first set, the match was held up for several minutes because of a slippery baseline on the court, with water seeping back on to the surface from hairline cracks in the court. Watson came from a break down to win that set, and dominated the second.
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