Heather Watson delivers late knockout to Elina Svitolina at Miami Open.

Heather Watson had her eyes on the ball during her second-round match with Elina Svitolina at the Miami Open. 

Heather Watson scored a huge win against a struggling adversary at the Miami Open Thursday. The Brit had challenged from Elina Svitolina, who continued to battle more than just the competition at Hard Rock Stadium in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) result on Court 7. 

The two encountered each other for the fifth time and the first since 2017. It was there that Svitolina gained her second win over the Brit in Birmingham to level her record with her opponent on the grass. After successfully winning her first main draw match in six years, Watson hoped to become the second British player to dispatch the Ukrainian early. Svitolina didn’t have a great time in Indian Wells when she lost out to Harriet Dart in three sets. With the obvious problems with the Ukrainian's game and her emotional situation, Watson wanted to better her own performance. 

Svitolina got off on the right foot, scoring a break after forcing deuce with Watson. She consolidated with a hold in the second until a shift of momentum benefitted the Brit. Watson blanked the 15^th seed in the third and broke her but good to level the score concentrating on her opponent’s vulnerabilities with the forehand. She gained her third game victory to take the lead, adding another for a 4-2 stand. 

The 27-year-old turned things around, gaining her first breakpoint since the first game in the sixth. A second one put her a game down and a hold in the eighth leveled the score. Svitolina regained the lead in the ninth with the double break, painting the lines well to go into her service with plenty of control. The Ukrainian kept light and focused, taking Watson down in the tenth with a long return from the Brit ending the first in 47 minutes. 

The second went along the way of Watson, who improved on the serve to stamp out another service to love. She broke Svitolina to love in the second but suffered a setback in her return game. The Ukrainian got into the action on the free points before breaking back in the third to get in the set. Watson was on a mission to let that be a small response from the 15^th seed and battled against her opponent’s service to fight for a break. She got Svitolina into a lob rally near the net and remained consistent and light until the 27-year-old erred to restore Watson’s advantage. 

Watson navigated well on serve to keep Svitolina back with her return problems and make it 4-1. As she inched closer to forcing a deciding set, Svitolina found a way to dig in on serve in the sixth and cap a victory to stay in contention with Watson. The Brit answered with a blast of forehand shots that put her up 40-0 in the seventh, watching a long return from the Ukrainian seal up her third shutout. 

The 15^th seed refused to go down on her own serve and extended the set with a good hold of serve in the eighth. Watson came into her serve and blasted Svitolina into another shutout that put the second set to bed in 36 minutes. Watson picked up where she left off and broke Svitolina to open the third set. She suffered a break back in the second before they each held serve to make it two-all. Svitolina knew that something more had to come from her game and in the fifth, put a second straight service hold to her name. 

It remained level through the next three service games with Svitolina and Watson holding well from their ends of the court. As they reached the business end of the match, Svitolina was losing control of her forehand serves, handing Watson brief leverage. Another forehand error brought up three breakpoints for the Brit, who watched Svitolina save one on a return-lined winner.

The 15^th seed saved a second with a crosscourt winner but a lob attempt landed wide to give Watson a huge 5-4 lead. Serving for her spot in the third round, Watson flopped with bad forehand shots. Down 15-40, the Brit fought back a point but sent one into the net to level the score at five-all. With the door open for the Ukrainian, the 15^th seed served up a good hold in the 11^th to lead once again. It was Watson serving to stay in the tournament and dug in for a battle with Svitolina. The Ukrainian forced the Brit to get to deuce, saving a match point. She won the next two points to force them to a tiebreak that would determine the winner. 

Watson stay ahead of Svitolina through the battle that was close, but in the end, gave the Brit a well-deserved victory that took 2 hours and 38 minutes.