Rome Masters 2016: Heather Watson hopes of playing at Olympic Games severely dented

Briton loses to Barbora Strycova in the Italian capital

Heather Watson (Getty)

Heather Watson still has work to do if she is to achieve her main goal of 2016. The 23-year-old Briton has set her heart on playing at this summer’s Olympic Games but after losing 6-4, 6-2 to Barbora Strycova in the second round here her place in the field for Rio is still in some doubt.

A ranking inside the world’s top 60 by the end of the French Open should be enough to secure Watson’s Olympic place, but the world No 55 could yet be overtaken by the cut-off date. Although she has successfully defended the ranking points she won in Rome last year, she might still need to garner more points in Strasbourg next week and at the French Open, which begins in 11 days’ time. She has points to defend in Paris, having reached the second round there last year.

Watson said that one of the reasons she will play next week is the chance to earn more ranking points, though it will also be an opportunity to get more clay-court matches under her belt. “The more matches the better,” she said. “I feel that I always play better with more matches.”

After the glorious sunshine of previous days the skies were overcast following overnight rain. Watson had won her previous meeting with Strycova, in the first round of the French Open two years ago, but the world No 36 is a feisty competitor.

Strycova, aged 30, achieved her highest world ranking position of No 20 last year. She is one of the most consistent performers on the women’s tour, having finished the season in the world’s top 100 for the last eight years in succession.

Everything seemed straightforward for Watson when she dropped only three points in the first three games. The Briton raced into a 4-0 lead, but Strycova quickly fought back. The Czech soon levelled at 4-4 and then saved two game points in the following game before breaking Watson for the third time in a row. After 53 minutes she served out for the set.

Watson, who saved only two of the eight break points she defended in the match, was soon 4-1 down in the second set. A break back to 4-2 briefly raised hopes of a revival, but Strycova quickly regained control to close out victory after an hour and 29 minutes, having won 12 of the last 14 games.

“I felt pretty flawless at the beginning, and then I remember being 40-15 up at 4-0 and she changed her game, started hitting a few loopy balls, which was smart,” Watson said afterwards. “I thought after that my level dropped a bit, but I also thought she improved a lot from there.

“I still had my chances to close to 4-4, but I thought that from then on she just played very well. Her balls were very deep and every time I'd set myself up in a point she'd just put the ball in a really awkward position for me.”

Watson added: “The good thing is I have had a lot of matches and I'm feeling very comfortable on the clay now. I would have loved to have gone further here, because I felt like I was playing great, but I'll take the positives and hopefully I can have another good week before the French.”

Victoria Azarenka, who has been the form player of the women’s tour this year, lost her opening match, going down 6-3, 6-2 to Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu, the world No 35. Azarenka had established herself as one of the favourites for the French Open after winning titles in Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami, but she has had a poor start to the clay-court season, which has often been her most challenging part of the year.

Having pulled out of last week’s Madrid tournament before her third-round match because of a lower back injury, the world No 6 never got going here and again appeared to be struggling physically.

“I thought I was OK and was ready to play and come back, so I’m just disappointed,” Azarenka said afterwards. “It’s just unfortunate that I can’t play my best tennis.”

Asked if she felt she was ready for the French Open, the former world No 1 said: “We’ll see what happens. I’m not going to think about the future.”

Garbine Muguruza, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, wasted no time winning her opening match. The Spaniard dropped only four points on her serve in in beating Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-0 in just 47 minutes.