British number two Heather Watson shrugged off her recent poor form to reach the second round of the French Open for the sixth time.
The 26-year-old needed just over an hour to dispatch a distinctly off-colour Oceane Dodin of France 6-3 6-0.
She will face either Belgian 16th seed Elise Mertens or Varvara Lepchenko of the USA as she bids to reach the third round for the first time.
? Come on! Brilliant performance by @HeatherWatson92 to reach the #FrenchOpen 2nd round after blasting past Dodin 6-3, 6-0! #BackTheBrits ?? pic.twitter.com/XFNv8iuCpb
— British Tennis (@BritishTennis) May 28, 2018
Watson arrived at Roland Garros having lost nine of her previous 10 matches, and looked nervous as she dropped her opening service game.
But Watson broke back for 2-2 and as Dodin’s error count began to creep up she went on to take the opening set.
Dodin’s game then fell away completely to virtually gift Watson a free pass into the next round.
She needed five match points to get over the line but eventually wrapped up a morale-boosting win.
Day two was bloomin’ marvellous!#RG18 pic.twitter.com/4KfTzvThUM
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 28, 2018
“I started a little nervous,” said Watson. “I was feeling really confident coming in, and loosened up. I played really, really well.
“It was tough to close it out. You could feel the rain coming up. Throwing the ball up to serve I kept getting water in my eyes.
“I was happy with my level throughout the whole match. Despite my season, I was feeling so confident coming into the match because I’ve done everything to prepare, to the best of my ability.”
