Britain’s Hopes Lie With Murray and Ward in Cincinnati Open

Britain’s Heather Watson has lost 6 – 3, 2 – 6, 7 – 5 in the first round of Cincinnati’s Western & Southern Open to China’s Shaui Zhang.
Watson made it into the world’s top 50 by reaching the Rogers Cup third round last week. In 2012 she beat Zhang in straight sets when they met in Estoril but this time she played inconsistently and lost over the course of two hours. She finished the match with a first-serve percentage of just 47%.

Now Britain’s hopes in Cincinnati lie with Andy Murray and James Ward in the men’s draw. Murray is eight seed overall and he has been given a bye to the second round where he will play Portugal’s Joao Sousa. Ward made it through qualifying by beating Germany’s Tobias Kamke and France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu, next he will take on Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the first round.

Watson is in the main draw for the US Open which begins on 25 August; however, the Connecticut Open, which begins on August 17th, is the final warm-up event and it could offer Watson a wild card.