Heather Watson vs Clara Tauson: Latest updates from Wimbledon with more British hopes in action

Telegraph

5 hours ago

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Latest updates
Richard Aikman live updates
01 July 2025 11:36am
11:36AM
Tauson 2-5 Watson*
Watson takes the first point but goes long with a forehand down the line, which probably should have been hit with her backhand. 15-all.
Watson backs up a good first serve out wide by coming to the bet and executing another drop shot. 30-15.
Watson comes to the net again and plays another drop shot. This time Tauson reaches it but misses with a forehand pass.
Tauson nets and that's another game for Watson.
Watson holds serve.
11:32AM
Tauson* 2-4 Watson
Perfect drop shot by Watson after a good return on Tauson's second serve. Soft hands there. 0-15.
Return winner down the line from the Watson backhand. She's in her groove at the moment while Tauson is looking slightly out of sorts. 0-13-.
A rare good first serve is netted, 15-30.
Brilliant cross-court back-hand return from Watson, love over the net. Tauson nets and there are two more break points up for grabs. 15-40.
Big serve is netted by Watson. 30-40.
Another clean backhand winner down the line and Watson has won three games on the trot.
Watson breaks serve.
11:28AM
Tauson 2-3 Watson*
Watson goes 30-love up with two well-constructed points.
She doesn't have a big serve and so is reliant on her movement and ground strokes to get ahead.
That's a superb cross-court forehand winner that clears the net by about a millimetre and lands plum on the line.
40-love.
Tauson goes too deep on her backhand and that's a rare, comfortable game to love for the Briton.
Watson holds serve.
11:25AM
Tauson* 2-2 Watson
A lovely cross-court winner by Watson into the corner will give her confidence. 0-15.
As will the Tauson double-fault. 0-30.
Tauson is struggling on serve but Watson fails to punish her weak second serve and sprays a backhand into the tramlines. 15030.
The Dane hits a winner down the line. 30-all.
Poor execution by Tauson as she goes long on a simple put-away and break points emerges for Watson: 30-40.
A good return of the second serve prompts Tauson to go too big on her approach. Game Watson.
Watson breaks serve.
11:20AM
Tauson 2-1 Watson*
You join us with the match level after two games and going with serve.
After losing the first point with a passing shot down the line, which is a shade long, Watson puts pressure on herself by double-faulting.
She then goes long again with a regulation forehand to give her opponent two break points.
A meek second serve is punished by the Tauson backhand – a searing cross-court drive that beats Watson all ends up.
Tauson breaks serve.
11:10AM
Brits warming to the conditions
SW18 is still at the epicentre of a heatwave today with Annabel Croft, a veteran of British tennis, claiming on the BBC earlier today that she can 'never remember Wimbledon being so hot'.
Yesterday was the hottest opening day at the All England Club on record, with temperatures reaching 32C, but that didn't affected the British performances. Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal and Emma Raducanu breezed through to the second round yesterday, among seven British winners on the same day. The mercury may climb even higher today.
10:56AM
Great Dane on the rise
Watson's opponent is strongly fancied to win this one. Tauson claimed her first main-tour title in Auckland in early January and went on to finish runner-up to Mirra Andreeva in the Dubai 1000 series tournament.
She has won 24 matches and lost 13, rising to No 22 in the world. The redoubtable Dane, who was tipped for big things as a teenager breaking through, reached the quarter-finals of Nottingham and the round of 16 at the Bad Homburg Open last week, where she lost to Mira Andreeva in three sets. She also has 11 years on her opponent.
In short these are two players whose career trajectories are heading in opposite directions. But Watson will have the backing of home support, which has got to count for something, right? Right?
10:42AM
Elementary, my dear Watson
Welcome to live coverage of Wimbledon where we bring you Heather Watson's first-round encounter Clara Tauson of Denmark.
At 33 years of age Heather Watson is in the autumn of her career and as such could be contesting her final Wimbledon, not least because results have hardly been stellar in 2025. The girl from Guernsey has won 14 matches and lost 14 so far this year and lies 143rd in the world rankings.
There are some shards of optimism to be gleaned from a spirited showing at Queen's where Watson came through two rounds of qualifying before dispatching Yulia Putintseva until Elena Rybakina stopped her in her tracks.
Nottingham and Eastbourne were less encouraging, however, as Watson didn't even make it through qualifying. She has also fallen at this first-round hurdle in her last two appearances at the All England Club – it does not augur well for today.