Heather Watson shocks Dominika Cibulkova at Eastbourne

ByEurosport

Updated 27/06/2017 at 08:02 GMT

Heather Watson beat world number nine Dominika Cibulkova 7-5 6-4 to progress to the third round of the Aegon International at Eastbourne.

Great Britain's Heather Watson celebrates during her first round match against Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova

Image credit: Getty Images

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It was the second biggest win of Watson's career in terms of ranking, second only to her defeat of Agnieszka Radwanska, then the world number eight, in Indian Wells in 2015.

"It was my best win of the year,” she said. “The atmosphere was incredible and I was getting goosebumps at the end there. I feel like it’s coming together.”

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Watson, who beat Lesia Tsurenko in three sets in round one, secured the decisive break in the 12th game of an unpredictable first set to take it in 54 minutes.

The British number three passed up two match points as she attempted to serve it out at 5-3 but the 25-year-old rallied and managed to win the match at the next time of asking to secure a morale boosting win over the reigning champion.

“She [Cibulkova] is a great player, great competitor,” added Watson. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. She really pushed me at the end there and I got shaken a little. I kept fighting and I was able to close it out. That gave me a lot of confidence.

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"She's a hard worker and a fighter so I knew it was never going to be easy. She's very aggressive but I'm OK with that. I have some wheels so I've got to use them," Watson told Annabel Croft after the match.

She will now face Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.