• WTA Tour

Watson falls at final hurdle

ESPN staff
April 25, 2011
Heather Watson failed to secure a place in the Estoril Open © Getty Images
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British No. 3 Heather Watson failed to secure her place in the Estoril Open after falling in the final round of qualifying.

Watson had safely navigated her way through two matches in Portugal, but was soundly beaten by Austria's Tamira Paszek 6-0 6-3.

The 18-year-old failed to register a single game in the opening set as Paszek secured a whitewash.

Watson put up a fight in the second set, but despite holding out to 2-2, a critical break of serve halted Watson's resistance as Paszek cruised to victory and a place in the main draw.

In the main draw, there were a couple of shocks as two seeds crashed out in the first round. Romina Oprandi dispatched seventh seed Jie Zheng 6-4 6-2, while Monica Niculescu got the better of fifth-seeded American Bethanie Mattek-Sands in a three-set thriller, prevailing 6-4 5-7 6-3. Top seed Alisa Kleybanova safely negotiated her way into the second round, beating Olga Govortsova 6-2 6-2.

At the Barcelona Open, No. 1 seed Marion Bartoli was dumped out by Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-1. The Frenchwoman made seven double faults and was broken five times during the straight-sets defeat. Roberta Vinci, seeded six, beat Silvia Soler Espinosa 6-2 6-3 and she was joined in the second round by Alexandra Dulgheru, who was leading Zuzana Kucova 6-1 5-0 when her opponent was forced to retire.

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