DUBAI // It was supposed to be elementary.
Heather Watson, Britain’s top women’s tennis player in the WTA rankings, met Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Kozlova on Monday afternoon at the Aviation Club, with the small spattering of British fans confident their compatriot could comfortably progress to a second-round tie with Ekaterina Makarova.
They were left disappointed.
After one hour and 37 minutes, Kozlova had triumphed 6-4, 7-5 and Watson, a London 2012 Team Great Britain Olympian, had hobbled off Centre Court grimacing in pain.
She later revealed she had not only been struck down with an illness on arrival in the Emirates but had also suffered a mysterious, crippling pain in both feet midway through her first-round match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“When I got here, I was feeling like I was getting sick and tried to take some Vitamin C to stop it,” said Watson, who is ranked 43rd in the world.
“Then [on Sunday] I had a fever, so I was in my room the whole day to rest up and get ready. I woke up feeling a little bit better; still not great, but I felt like I could go out there and have a good chance.”
And she did for much of the first set, holding her serve and forcing her opponent to scramble around the court with a series of strong baseline forehands and accurate, cross-court backhands.
In the sixth game, she served two aces to tie the score 3-3 but failed to build on the momentum, double-faulting twice in her next service game.
In the final game, and without having managed to land a first serve inside the lines, she was broken, handing her opponent – ranked 132nd in the world – the opening set.
“I had my game plan to play aggressive tennis, keep points short and I knew what I wanted to do, but in the beginning of the second set I started to get this pain in both my feet,” Watson said.
“I thought it was just some slight cramp, and as that set went on it just started getting worse to the point it was agony to just touch.”
By the ninth game, Watson was forced to dig deep and save two match points before Kozlova double-faulted to hand her opponent a lifeline.
Both players then held serve, but with Watson serving down 6-5 and struggling with her footwork, Kozlova raced to a 40-15 lead and closed out the match with relative ease.
After seeking medical attention, Watson speculated the pain might have been her body’s natural defence mechanism.
The previous day, she had loaded up on anti-inflammatories, painkillers and other drugs to banish her fever.
“[On Sunday] I was just horrific,” the Guernsey-born 22 year-old said. “I had a towel next to me in my room because I was sweating so much. Then I was cold. It was horrible. [Yesterday] I definitely felt better and still had a chance to win.
“She played very well, but at the end she got a bit nervous and I thought this is my chance to come back. My feet just didn’t let me.”
Diego Veronelli, Watson’s Argentine coach, said he was proud of his player’s fighting spirit but warned she will likely be out for a couple of days as she attempts to recover from her exertions.
“We had a plan to play short points, but if you have a player who has no energy, then it’s difficult,” Veronelli said.
“It’s not easy to play tennis at 100 per cent, let alone 50 to 60 per cent. I’m actually proud of the fight she put on out there. She has been sick for the past two days, but she showed a lot of determination. I’m sure with all this big effort she will now get even worse for a couple of days before improving.”
It is a two-day wait she is unlikely to be afforded: Watson is scheduled to play a first-round doubles match alongside Marina Erakovic on Tuesday afternoon.
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