Heather Watson would seem to have rediscovered much of the form and confidence that briefly lifted her to within a couple of points of a career-defining win over Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2015, and then vanished.
In the warmth of Acapulco on Sunday, the British No 2 beat the rising Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-1 in nearly three hours to win the Mexican Open, her first WTA title in four years.
With few points to defend in coming months, she should be climbing well into the world’s top 50, and might even be back among the seeds at Wimbledon.
Since losing to Anett Kontaveit there last summer, Watson has steadily got back to near where she was that famous afternoon in the third round at Wimbledon against Williams, when she served for the match at 5-4 but was denied by the stunned American. There have been glimpses of her best since then; she attributes her latest renewal to the Irish footballer she met on a night out at Wimbledon last year, Courtney Duffus, a Yeovil Town striker.
“Courtney has been super into it,” Watson said by phone on Sunday night. “He is a super-good influence, the person who has brought the calm into my life and my mind. He stayed up with his best mate last night to watch it. Courtney is so calm and level-headed that it sort of rubs off on to me. I am a calm person, but I have also got that fire and feistiness. He just puts me at ease with anything and everything, he just makes my life really easy.”
Watson has had a good 2020, beating Elise Mertens on her way to the semi-finals in Hobart in January, then losing to her in the second round of the Australian Open after a solid win over Kristyna Pliskova. She recovered from a heavy loss to the Slovakian Anna Schmiedlova in the first round of Great Britain’s Fed Cup play-off, before beating Rebecca Sramkova for the team’s sole win.
In Mexico, she beat Coco Vandeweghe, Kateryna Bondarenko, Christina McHale and Wang Xinyu to reach Sunday’s final, where she finished strongly to outlast the 17-year-old qualifier Fernandez and secure the title on her 10th match point.
There were some anxious moments as Fernandez saved five match points in the tie-break to force a third set. It was there that Watson found a second gear.
“I feel a bit tired,” Watson said. “I had so much adrenaline yesterday that I couldn’t get to sleep. I am super-pleased with my effort this whole week. I have been really calm and just enjoying where I am at. Acapulco is absolutely gorgeous, the environment is lovely. I played this tournament my whole career and, although I won the doubles, singles-wise I had barely won a match here.”
