Heather Watson defeat ends British women's hopes

Heather Watson's promising French Open run ended with a 6-1 6-3 defeat by 16th seed Kaia Kanepi at Roland Garros this evening.

The teenager exceeded expectations by coming through qualifying and then winning her first-round match, the first British woman to do so in 17 years, and the scoreline today did not reflect the quality of Watson's play.

Kanepi is a hugely powerful player who is at a career-high ranking of 16th and she began the match in confident fashion, breaking Watson in her first service game.

The soon-to-be British number two fought hard to get on the board but, although she was competing well in rallies and winning plenty of points, she could not convert those into games.

After seeing the first set drift away in 34 minutes, Watson dug in at the start of the second and held both her first two service games.

What she did not need was the luck to go against her but that is exactly what happened at 2-3 as a net cord gave Kanepi break point, which she took to leave Watson on the brink.

The 19-year-old is not one to give in but her Estonian opponent just had too much power and experience, clinching victory with a crunching backhand winner down the line.