Watson wins three-hour match at Thailand Open

Bangkok (Agencies): British number six Heather Watson came from behind to beat Yulia Putintseva in the first round of the Thailand Open. Watson, 30, won 5-7 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in Bangkok in a match that featured 14 breaks of serve and lasted three hours.

Kazakhstan’s Putintseva, 28, is 44th in the WTA rankings, 116 places above Watson. Watson will play South Korea’s Na-Lae Han, who beat Romanian Elena-Gabriela Ruse, on Wednesday for a place in the quarter-finals. This month Watson failed to qualify for the Australian Open for the first time since 2011.