The US Open junior champion qualified for the main draw of a WTA Tour event for the first time thanks to victories over Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Zarina Diyas.

Watson put on a spirited display particularly during the first set matching Vesnina right up until the tie break and did not look outclassed throughout the match.

In fact 17 year old Watson took the first break of serve in the second set before Vesnina hit back, breaking twice to take the match win after 1 hour and 47 minutes on court.

The Guernsey born youngster will take heart from her performance against the more experienced 23 year old Russian player who is seeded in 10th for the tournament.

The 17 year old from Guernsey and based in Florida, fought back from 3-1 down in the first set to win four games on the trot and although broken back serving for the game, was able to make amends to win the first set 6-4.

Watson then showed her strengths in the second set, dropping just one point against Buchina and winning the match, 6-4, 6-1.

The unseeded Russian had reached the final by beating Britain’s number two Laura Robson in the last four.

Watson now intends to climb up the ranks of Ladies tennis, saying that she expects to play in more women’s tournaments than juniors in the coming months, she said after her triumph in the US Open;

“I still want to be able to play the junior Grand Slams next year because I really enjoy playing them but I’m going to start trying to climb the women’s ladder now. This has given me a lot of confidence and I hope I can take this and use it in my next couple of tournaments.”

laura robson

British Girls’ Laura Robson and Heather Watson moved into the quarter finals of the US Open girls’ singles following impressive matches on Thursday.

Unseeded fifteen year old Robson produced an impressive game to beat the 12th seed Tamaryn Hendler of Belgium in two sets 6-2, 6-1 in a match that lasted just over 70 minutes.

Robson said after the game;

“It was a lot harder than the score suggests because there were a lot of games that went to deuce and she had a couple of break point chances. So it wasn’t a routine match but I thought I played well.”

She will face wildcard entry American Lauren Davis in the quarter final. Meanwhile British number one Heather Watson faced a tougher challenge in her match with German Annika Beck, winning 6-4, 7-5.

Watson had made an incredible start to the match leading the first set 5-0, but the German fought back to 5-4 as Watson’s game threatened to collapse.  Similarly in the second set Watson held a commanding lead of 5-1 before letting the game slip from her control, managing to hang on for the win.

Watson will now face Wimbledon girls’ singles champion and second seed at Flushing Meadows, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn for a place in the semi finals.