Watson stuns Lisicki in Tokyo

Heather Watson: Secured a superb win over Sabine Lisicki

Heather Watson enjoyed one of the best wins of her career on Monday beating Germany's Sabine Lisicki in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

Watson, who had lost her last four matches on the WTA Tour, triumphed 6-4 7-6 (7/3) in 98 minutes.

Lisicki, who has slipped to No.30 in the world, served six double faults during the contest and lost the opening set to a single break in the 10th game - which she lost to love.

The 20-year-old from Guernsey needed a tie-break to seal the prestigious scalp, after twice recovering from a break down to win the second set.

Fairytale

Watson raced 6-1 ahead in the tie-break before losing successive points on her serve before clinching the victory on her third match point.

She now faces the No.2 seed Maria Sharapova in the second round.

Marion Bartoli denied local favourite Kimiko Date-Krumm a fairytale run on home soil with a commanding 6-1 6-4 win.

She is joined in round two by fellow seed Ana Ivanovic, who was leading Andrea Hlavackova 6-3 2-0 when the Czech player retired.

Also on Monday, Nadia Petrova powered past China's Peng Shuai 6-1 6-4, while 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone edged past Yaroslava Shvedova 4-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.

Tenth seed and 2010 winner Caroline Wozniacki, who claimed her first title of the season at the Korea Open on Sunday, progressed later in the day by beating Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia 6-0 3-6 6-4.

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