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Heather Watson has been having some success in the doubles at Wimbledon which is good experience for the Olympics. (She'll be playing with Johanna Konta in the Ladies Doubles - not yet known if GB will be involved in the Mixed Doubles).

 

At Wimbledon, she got through to the third round of the Ladies Doubles before losing. She's just got through to the Mixed Doubles semifinals - she's teamed with Henri Kontinen from Finland - they hadn't met before Wimbledon so to get to this stage is good going.

El Loro

And Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen have just won their semi final to get to tomorrow's final (Centre Court after Andy Murray's match). It's the first time Heather Watson has got to a grand slam final and she's delighted with this.

 

The result could mean that she and Andy Murray may get selected for the mixed doubles at the Olympics - the selection is made by the ITF and the draw is restricted to 16 teams rather than the 32 teams for the mens and ladies doubles.

(the result has no effect on her rankings as the doubles rankings don't include mixed doubles)

El Loro

Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen won the mixed doubles as Watson became the fourth British player to secure a title on Wimbledon's final day.

 

Finn Kontinen and Guernsey's Watson beat Colombian Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Gronefeld of Germany 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 .

 

"I can't stop smiling. I just can't describe how happy I am," Watson said.

 

The British number two had never before progressed beyond the third round of a Grand Slam, while she and Kontinen only played together for the first time last week.

 

They were unseeded and beat defending champions Leander Paes and Martina Hingis in the third round before defeating 15th seeds Farah and Gronefeld to claim the final title of the championship on centre court.

 

The last time two Brits won two of the five traditional titles at Wimbledon (the men's and women's singles and doubles plus the mixed doubles) was in 1937, when Dorothy Round Little won the women's singles and Billie Yorke teamed up with France's Simonne Mathieu to win the women's doubles.

 

"We gelled straight away," Watson told BBC Sport.

 

"I couldn't have picked anybody better to share this experience with than Henri. We just had so much fun and that's why we played well together.

 

"We all want to win but it is important to enjoy it. Our personalities are pretty laid back, and we like to have a good time. [To Kontinen] Thanks for putting up with me."

 

Watson suffered "one of the worst" defeats of her career when losing to Annika Beck in the first round of the singles, failing to convert three match points in the deciding set.

 

In claiming victory on Sunday she became the first British woman to win a Wimbledon doubles title since Jo Durie in 1987, who that year won the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates.

 

"After such a horrible first-round loss, I made it to the last day of Wimbledon," Watson added.

 

"It's been a dream of mine since I was a little girl to be a Grand Slam champion. I would take anything, singles, doubles, mixed doubles. Yeah, I've got one of those now."

 

Analysis

Sam Smith, former British number one on BBC TV:

"Heather and Henri: Never say never, you will go to the ball.

"Watson played brilliantly throughout this event, and they gelled wonderfully. There's a lovely chemistry between them and this could be a real springboard for the both of them. What a way to end the championships."

El Loro

British number one Johanna Konta reached the Bank of the West Classic semi-finals in California with a 6-2 4-6 6-3 victory over Saisai Zheng.

 

Konta, ranked 18 in the world, broke her opponent - who is 56 places below - her twice in the opening set.

 

But the Chinese player won the last three games of the second set to level.

 

Third seed Konta, 25, gained a crucial break in the deciding set in Stanford to go 4-3 ahead and clinched victory in just over two hours and 20 minutes.

 

Konta will take on Dominika Cibulkova in the semi-finals, while Venus Williams faces fellow American Alison Riske.

El Loro

British number one Johanna Konta is through to the first WTA final of her career after beating world number 12 Dominika Cibulkova in Stanford, USA. (She has some way to catch up with Heather Watson who has three WTA titles so far including one this year).

 

Konta, ranked 18th, played superbly to win 6-4 6-2 and set up a final against Venus Williams (22:00 BST on Sunday).

 

The 25-year-old Briton hit seven aces and dropped just six points on serve as she won in one hour and 14 minutes.

 

"It's just a release of emotions," said a jubilant Konta, who is still in the doubles with American Maria Sanchez.

 

"I needed to do a very good job of just focusing on myself. It was about focusing on breathing and enjoying playing in front of such a great crowd."

 

Top seed Williams beat fellow American Alison Riske 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to progress.

El Loro

Britain's Johanna Konta beat seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams to win her first WTA title in Stanford.

 

Konta, 25, won 7-5 5-7 6-2 in California to join Heather Watson as a British winner on the WTA Tour in 2016.

 

"It's quite an incredibly humbling experience," said the British number one. "It's a validation of all the hard work you've already put in."

 

Sue Barker was the only previous British winner in Stanford, beating Virginia Wade in the 1977 final.

 

Konta said: "I wanted to leave it all out there, but also absorb everything that I could possibly reinvest in my career moving forward.

 

"I've played her twice before and knew I'd be playing a magnitude of experience. Venus Williams doesn't need an introduction."

 

British number one Konta - ranked 147th last June - will rise from 18th to a career high 14th when the new world rankings are confirmed on Monday.

 

She reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, and again at Eastbourne in June.

 

Watson became the first Briton for 24 years to win a WTA title in Osaka four years ago, and has since added victories in Hobart (2015) and Monterrey (2016).

 

Konta's success comes at a higher level, however, with Stanford among the WTA's 'Premier' tournaments and boasting former winners that include Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Serena Williams.

 

Konta caps stunning rise with trophy

After overpowering world number 12 Dominika Cibulkova in Saturday's semi-finals, Konta looked on course for a similarly confident win at 7-5 4-1 up in the final.

 

Williams, 36, was wobbling when she double-faulted to fall two breaks down in the second set but the five-time Wimbledon champion came storming back.

 

With nerves gripping Konta, the American took six out of seven games to force a decider.

 

However, it was the Briton who proved the stronger on a fiercely hot afternoon and she again forged a commanding lead in the final set.

 

The tension was apparent as Konta tried to serve out the match and she had to fend off three break points in a dramatic game before converting her third match point.

 

"It was about keeping things in perspective, and understanding there'd be ebbs and flows in the match," said Konta. "Every single point was a battle, and I tried to win as many battles as possible.

 

"The simpler you keep things, the more clarity you have, and the less dumb you play!"

 

Williams, who has 49 WTA singles career titles and reached this year's Wimbledon semi-final, said: "She played at such a high level today. She saved her best tennis for the final, which is what you want to do.

 

"She plays really well against me, so maybe she comes out and doesn't feel any pressure and just swings for it. I tried to stay in there and fight. What can I say but give her credit."

 

El Loro

Heather Watson and Johanna Konta are in Rio for the Olympics. They are in the singles (64 players) and together in the doubles (32 teams) Still not known if GB will be in the mixed doubles (16 teams and the ITF decide which countries will take part, selecting from those players at the Olympics in the singles and doubles). If GB were to be selected it looks as if it could be Andy Murray and Heather Watson. They have played mixed doubles together before in the Hopman cup.
Draws yet to be made, but the tennis runs from the 6th to the 14th.

El Loro

Heather Watson is drawn against Peng Shuai (China) (ranked 264) in the first round - Saturday 16.48.
Johanna Konta is drawn against Stephanie Vogt (Liechtenstein) (ranked 290) - Sunday 20.24.
Obviously both of them will be expected to win. It should be noted though that Peng Shuai was out for many months due to injury and returned in March. Back in 2011 she had been at 11 in the rankings.

El Loro
Last edited by El Loro

Johanna Konta reached the third round of the women's singles at the Olympics, but Heather Watson was eliminated in Rio.

 

World number 13 Konta beat France's Caroline Garcia 6-2 6-3.

 

Watson, ranked 66th, fought back against world number 20 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, before losing 6-3 1-6 6-3.

 

Watson later lost again as the two Britons were beaten 3-6 6-0 6-4 by third seeds Hao-Ching Chan and Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei in the doubles.

 

"I'm grateful to be here and I get to say I'm an Olympian," said Konta, 25. "I'm here to compete and I'm really enjoying being part of the whole thing."

 

Konta will play Russian eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last 16

El Loro

Britain's Johanna Konta won a dramatic contest with Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the Olympic quarter-finals.

 

Konta, ranked 13th in the world, converted her fourth match point to beat the Russian eighth seed 3-6 7-5 7-5 after three hours and seven minutes.

 

The 25-year-old from Eastbourne plays Germany's Angelique Kerber (who will be favourite for gold with Serena Williams having lost) next.

El Loro

The ITF have selected Jamie Murray and Johanna Konta as GB's mixed doubles team. I assume that is because Jamie Murray is the highest ranked GB doubles player and Johanna Konta  higher ranked than Heather Watson in the singles. The duo are in 5th place in the combined rankings that the ITF have used. France has two strong duos in 1st and 3rd place with Spain in 2nd.

 

Jaime Murray is a strong doubles player and it was a surprise that he was knocked out in the first round in the men's doubles.

El Loro

It was a frustrating day for British number one Johanna Konta, who delivered an error-strewn performance against Germany's Angelique Kerber.

 

Number two seed Kerber took just over an hour to beat Konta 6-1 6-2.

 

The Briton and mixed doubles partner Jamie Murray put in a strong performance against Americans Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, but Konta suffered her second defeat of the day as they were beaten 6-4 6-3.

El Loro

Heather Watson had her bags packed preparing to leave Rio having been beaten in the second round of the singles. Then she and Andy Murray received a late call-up for the mixed doubles when Romanians Monica Niculescu and Florin Mergea withdrew from the competition.

 

Heather said "I genuinely had all my stuff packed, I had no idea, wasn't sure if we'd get in and then just got told, 'Get your kit on, you're on',"

"I really do enjoy mixed doubles I enjoy the variety and trying to return the guy's serves, all of it."

 

She and Andy Murray then completed a 6-3 6-3 win over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro and David Ferrer.

El Loro

Andy Murray and Heather Watson lost 6-4 6-4 in the mixed doubles quarter-finals to India's Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna.

 

The rapport that Heather Watson had with Henri Kontinen at Wimbledon didn't seem to be there between her and Andy Murray. Whereas at Wimbledon it was clear that they were enjoying playing, that wasn't in evidence yesterday. She and Henri Kontinen hope to be able to play together in future mixed doubles events but of course that's impossible at the Olympics.

El Loro

Heather Watson‏@HeatherWatson92 40m40 minutes ago

MONICA!!!! So happy for you chica âĪïļïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ―ïŋ― couldn't have happened to a nicer girl! ïŋ―ïŋ―

A lovely tweet from Heather Watson. I bet these two players have spent most of the past couple of years ranked similarly between 50-100... and will have battled through many a pre-tournament qualifier! If Puig can raise her game to this extent hopefully so can Heather!

 

Edit: Season ending rankings:

 

Heather Watson

2013: 119

2014: 50

2015: 54

 

Monica Puig

2013: 55

2014: 60

2015: 92

Cold Sweat
Last edited by Cold Sweat

Best news for quite some time re Laura Robson.

 

Britain's Laura Robson has won her first tournament since returning to fitness following a wrist injury.

 

The 22-year-old won the Koser Jewelers $25,000 Tennis Challenge in Landisville, USA, with a 6-0 6-0 win over the USA's Julia Elbaba.

 

Robson, beaten by Angelique Kerber in the first round at Wimbledon, is ranked 285 in the world after missing much of 2014 and 2015.

 

It is her second win on the second-tier ITF Tour.

 

The result should improve her ranking to about 250.

El Loro

Britain's Laura Robson and Tara Moore have reached the second round of qualifying for the US Open.

 

World number 247 Robson, 22, beat Korea's Su Jeong Jang 6-3 6-2 and will next face Bulgaria's world number 142 Isabella Shinikova.

 

Moore, 24, the world number 171, beat Tereza Mrdeza 6-4 6-1 to set up a meeting with German Antonia Lottner, ranked 13 places higher.

 

Both matches are scheduled for Thursday.

 

There is a third round of qualifying before the tournament starts on 29 August.

El Loro

Britain's Laura Robson is one win away from qualifying for the US Open after beating Bulgarian Isabella Shinikova.

 

The 22-year-old won 6-4 6-4 and will now face Germany's Tatjana Maria (ranked 121) on Friday for a place in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

 

Robson now has seven victories in a row, having won an event in Landisville earlier this month.

 

Briton Tara Moore failed to reach the final round of qualifying, losing 1-6 6-3 6-2 to Germany's Antonia Lottner.

El Loro

Laura Robson will play fellow Briton Naomi Brody in the US Open first round after beating Tatjana Maria 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 in the final round of qualifying. Second round opponent likely to be Agnieszka Radwanska.

 

Victory in New York was Robson's eighth in a row after she won a lower-tier tournament in Pennsylvania last month.

 

Heather Watson plays Richel Hohenkamp who is ranked 165. Second round is likely to be against Timea Babos.

 

Johanna Konta plays Bethanie Mattek-Sands (ranked 109). She would be expected to get to the 4th round where she would meet Garbine Muguruza (ranked 3).

 

El Loro

Johanna Konta can break into the world top 10 by the end of this season, according to Greg Rusedski.

 

Great Britain's Konta, 25, is seeded 13th for next week's US Open and faces USA's Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the first round at Flushing Meadows.

 

And former British number one Rusedski believes world number 14 Konta can become the first GB woman since Jo Durie in 1984 to reach the WTA top 10.

 

"It's something she will do by the end of the year," he told Sportsweek.

 

Rusedski also believes that 2016 Australian Open semi-finalist Konta, who was ranked 146th in the world as recently as July 2015, has improved by working on her "mentality".

 

"She hired a sports psychologist who works with hedge funders," said Rusedki.

 

"He has put her into a process and a set of goals where she wants to achieve things and the process of doing things rather than focusing on results all the time, for Jo that is the right thing to do."

 

Speaking of Konta's US Open prospects, Rusedski added: "I expect her to get to the round of 16.

 

"If she gets a good draw, don't be surprised to see her back in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam again."

El Loro

Laura Robson's recent holiday in Italy lasted all of six hours.

 

She found time to visit Mount Vesuvius and the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, she took her friends to the villa they had hired... and then she received an email from her agent with news of a wildcard into the US Open qualifying draw, and promptly headed back to the airport.

 

Forty-eight hours earlier, Robson had won her first tournament since the age of 14 - capturing the ITF title in Landisville, Pennsylvania. It was by far and away her biggest triumph since first feeling the effects of a wrist injury in the late summer of 2013.

 

She played only two events in the whole of 2014, and in April of that year underwent surgery on her dominant left wrist in Minnesota. Her recovery was a slow, painful and very frustrating process. She next played competitively at the Eastbourne qualifying event of June 2015.

 

By this time Robson had forfeited her WTA ranking. She was playing on a 12 month long protected ranking of 58 (the position she held at her last event before injury: the 2014 Australian Open) and the comeback was a very stilted affair. Other minor injuries held her back as she hit the practice courts hard and it is only since the start of this year that she has been totally free of pain in the wrist.

 

Robson's progress in the first six months of this year was unspectacular.

 

She has won only one tour level match since her return - and that came against an unranked Moroccan teenager in the first round of the WTA event in Rabat; she was soundly beaten by Andrea Petkovic at the French Open, and Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon.

 

But then, after dispiriting trips to minor tournaments in Fort Worth, Lexington and Sacramento in which she collected five ranking points and earned barely one thousand dollars, Robson won five matches in a row in Landisville - including the final without dropping a game.

 

The $3,919 in prize money was irrelevant, but the 50 ranking points helped her climb back into the world's top 250, and did wonders for her confidence.

 

"I definitely put a lot of pressure on myself when I had my protected ranking," Robson told BBC Sport after qualifying for the main draw at the US Open.

 

"You know you are on a limited amount of time so I wasn't playing as freely as maybe I should have - especially at the Slams.

 

"But I knew I was putting in all the right things on the practice court and in the gym. It was waiting for that one moment where it all came together. I was prepared for it - I knew that I had this long season of training behind me."

 

Her reward for overcoming a nasty bout of conjunctivitis to win three qualifying matches at Flushing Meadows is a first round match on Tuesday with fellow British player Naomi Broady.

 

Robson is now being coached by the former British number one Lucie Ahl and Colin Beecher, and being watched here in New York by the LTA's lead women's coach Jeremy Bates.

 

"You see it a lot with athletes when they've had a long term injury," Bates explained, after Robson's early Saturday morning practice session.

 

"Mentally it's very difficult to fully commit yourself again to the physicality of the sport. At the back of your mind you're not quite sure if your body is going to break down or if it's properly healed.

 

"You can't shortcut it. At Wimbledon she was playing, but now when you see her play she's completely uninhibited, she's very mobile, she's chasing every ball. She's able to recover and compete as she used to. And you can see that she has no negative thoughts in her mind at all.

 

"It's completely mental - you've just got to get your brain around it."

 

Robson has lost virtually three years of her career - but yet she is only 22, and is still armed with a devastating forehand. She says she is working harder than ever on the practice court, and has proved in the past she has the temperament for the big occasion.

 

In the first eight months of 2013 alone, Robson beat Petra Kvitova en route to the third round of the Australian Open; had clay court wins over Agnieszka Radwanska and Venus Williams; reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and then the third round of the US Open. As a result, she reached a career high ranking of 27.

 

Her involvement in the final Grand Slam of this year has, though, come as a lovely surprise.

 

After winning in Landisville, Robson's agent Max Eisenbud told her there was virtually no chance of her being awarded a wildcard into qualifying. Hence the flight back home to the UK, and then on to Italy for that girls' holiday.

 

She was soon gone. But not forgotten.

 

"I've had so many pictures of their sunset cruises and they have been tagging me in their Instagram as if I'm still part of the group," Robson said.

 

"We had squad necklaces and everything - it was a full on girls' trip.

 

"But they're very happy that I came here instead."

El Loro

British number one Johanna Konta, seeded 13th, was in superb form as she beat Mattek-Sands 6-3 6-3 in the evening session.

 

The 25-year-old goes on to face Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in round two.

 

Konta reached the fourth round as a qualifier ranked 97th last year, but looked every inch a player closing in on the top 10 as she dismissed Mattek-Sands.

 

The Briton controlled the contest with her backhand and was rarely troubled on serve as she won in 81 minutes on the new Grandstand court.

 

"It's definitely never easy coming out for a first round of a Slam, especially against Bethanie coming off an Olympic [doubles] gold medal," said Konta.

 

"I knew she would be inspired and feed off the atmosphere. Thank you to everyone who stayed and supported us.

 

"It's pretty exciting to play in here. It's a shame we weren't the first, but it's pretty special, the whole venue."

El Loro

Naomi Broady beat compatriot Laura Robson 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-4 to claim only the second Grand Slam main-draw win of her career.

 

Heather Watson is waiting for the results of urgent blood tests to see if the cause of her illness can be identified. she has been feverish for a few days and there is a concern that the glandular fever has returned.

El Loro
Cold Sweat posted:
El Loro posted:

Johanna Konta's match against Tsvetana Pironkova is the second one on court 13 today.

JK somehow got through this match despite spending several minutes on the deck suffering from heat exhaustion.

I had meant to post the following but it got lost elsewhere

Britain's Johanna Konta reached the US Open third round - despite collapsing on court with blurred vision, breathing issues and an increased heart rate.

 

The 13th seed led Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2 5-6 at Flushing Meadows when she crouched down to her knees and began hyperventilating.

 

Medical help arrived after several minutes and Konta, 25, took a lengthy break before winning 6-2 5-7 6-2.

 

"My heart rate spiked and I couldn't really control my breathing," she said.

 

"It was basically very embarrassing. I started hyperventilating. I started shaking. That's why I went down on the ground, because I was quite violently shaking."

El Loro

Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska saved four set points on her way to beating British number three Naomi Broady in the second round of the US Open.

 

The Pole came back from a break down and edged a dramatic tie-break before going on to win 7-6 (11-9) 6-3.

 

"I need to play aggressive tennis," Broady said. "I need to keep working on my serve. It was better at the start of the year."

El Loro

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