Tennis: British teenager feeling little pressure

Heather Watson of Great Britain. Photo / Dean Purcell

Teenage British qualifier Heather Watson will look to continue with a relaxed attitude on the tennis court today in what will be a novel experience for her.

Watson will face unseed Chinese opponent Shuai Peng in the ASB Classic in Auckland in what will be her first appearance in a WTA Tour quarterfinal.

The bubbly 18-year-old, who hails from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, wore a smile during her rallies as she upset ninth seed Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 in the second round yesterday.

"I used to get nervous in matches when I was younger and that really used to affect me winning or losing," she said.

"But I've really got over that and I don't get nervous at all, which is so much better."

For her, the answer to overcoming any butteflies in the stomach was to keep what she was doing in perspective.

"It's just a tennis match," she said.

"If I win, I win. If I lose, I lose. It's no biggie either way."

The meeting between Watson, the world No 172, and Peng, who is ranked 100 places higher, will be the pair's first.

Watson got in a bit of a look at her upcoming opponent when Peng caused her own upset, a three-set win over third-seeded Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, before heading to her own match.

Victory over Suarez Navarro eclipsed her previous best performance on the tour, a second-round appearance at Eastbourne in England last year.

Watson couldn't quite carry her giantkilling feats into the doubles, where she and Japan's Kurumi Nara bowed out in the second round last night.

The No 1 seeded combination of Czech Kveta Peschke and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnick proved too strong, prevailing 6-2 6-1.

But Watson said she had had plenty of fun teaming up with Nara.

"We used to go to the same school and we used to `dorm' with each other so I know her quite well, and we have a lot of fun playing together," she said.

"She's so sweet, because everytime I hit a winner or won the point, she would say 'thank you'."

- NZPA