Heather Watson Beats Yulia Putintseva in the First Round of the Thailand Open

Heather Watson Beats Yulia Putintseva in the First Round of the Thailand Open

British number six Heather Watson managed to come back and beat Yulia Putintseva in the first round of the Thailand Open.

Watson, 30, won 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in Hua Hin in a match that featured 14 breaks of serve and lasted three hours.

Kazakhstan’s Putintseva, 28, is 44th in the WTA rankings, 116 places above Watson.

Watson will play South Korea’s Na-Lae Han, who beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse, on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals.