Heather Watson made an encouraging start to the HP Open in Osaka with a 6-4, 6-4 first-round win over Slovenia’s Polona Hercog.
The British No2, at 71st in the world is 10 places higher in the rankings than Hercog, carved out 10 break points, taking three, as she thrived on her opponent’s serve.
The 20-year-old took the opening set thanks to a single break of serve and broke twice in the second to close out victory in one hour 29 minutes.
Andy Murray, who will play Florian Mayer or Bernard Tomic in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters after being given a bye, has been tipped by Roger Federer to replace him at the top of the world rankings.
The Swiss star reclaimed the number one spot from Novak Djokovic after defeating Murray in the Wimbledon Final but the Scot then won both Olympic gold and the US Open.
And Federer said: “He’s saying the right things. He has results that back up his chances to become world No1, maybe even at the end of the year, maybe at the beginning of next year.”
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