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Heather Watson gets grass court season off to perfect start by making Surbiton Trophy final

Heather Watson cruised into the Aegon Surbiton Trophy final with a comfortable 6-1 6-2 victory over fellow Briton Harriet Dart.

 

Making her first grass court appearance of the season, the world number 113 broke her opponent four times to set up a final against Magdalena Rybarikova, who overcame Oceane Dodin 6-3 6-2.

 

Watson praised Dart, 20, and felt the British contingent showed their talent during the tournament.

 

She said: I’m feeling very good. It was a lot closer than the scoreline showed. 

 

“Harriet is a great player, we’ve trained together and I know her well. 

 

“They were tough conditions, it started off at a very high quality, but ended with a few too many errors. 

 

“It’s great for British tennis that we had four ladies in the quarter-finals.

 

“This is definitely the start to the summer season I was hoping for.”

 

Watson had beaten Alla Kudryavteva, Jana Fett and Katy Dunne to reach the semi-final, while Dart had seen off Georgina Garcia-Perez, Lizette Cabrera and Karolina Muchova,

 

The British number two admitted she was happy to be back on grass, having failed to qualify for the French Open earlier this month.

 

She said: “Grass is my favourite surface.

 

“I really enjoy playing on it, especially at home. I really love coming to the net and slicing, hence why I am playing on it every week.”

 

Her opponent on Sunday will be Rybarikova, who defeated Watson last year in Nottingham. 

 

However the Slovakian is aware the Briton will pose a tough challenge.

 

She said: “I managed to win the match last year, but I didn’t move great and she didn’t play well.

 

“She’s playing well now, she’s a very good player on the grass and she’s the favourite here with a home crowd.”

 

 

Australian pairing Monique Adamczak and Storm Saunders won the women’s doubles final with a 7-5 6-4 triumph over Kai-Chen Chang and Marina Erakovic.

 

Saunders was delighted with victory in what was only the second tournament the pair had played together.

 

She said: “We had a tough first round playing against the number one seeds, but after that we played a really good match.

 

“We kept our momentum and worked our way through each match.

 

“It’s been a really good week for both of us.”

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