WTA 125 Birmingham: Ponchet Defeats Watson and Advances to Quarterfinals

The grass season has already begun while Roland-Garros isn’t entirely over yet. At the WTA 125 tournament in Birmingham, the last remaining French player, Jessika Ponchet, continues her run and will compete in the quarterfinals on Friday.

After her victory against Vitalia Diatchenko (6-3, 6-2), the world No. 140 faced wild card recipient Heather Watson for a spot in the Final 8.
Comfortable on serve (18 aces), the Frenchwoman got off to the better start.

Solid on her service games, she only needed one break against the world No. 163 to take the lead. However, spurred on by her home crowd, the British player, a former world No. 38, fought back. The match became more balanced, and Watson broke at the crucial moment, at 6-5, to level the score at one set apiece.

But Ponchet held firm to make the difference in the decisive moments. On one of her five break opportunities in the third set, she managed to take control before sealing the win in the following game (6-4, 5-7, 7-5 in 2h35) to advance to the quarterfinals. There, the 28-year-old will face Xu Mingge, who upset top seed Alycia Parks before defeating Katarzyna Kawa.