Britain's Heather Watson admitted she enjoyed none of her 7-6, 6-2 first round victory over American teenager Caty McNally.

On the 11am ‘graveyard slot’ on Court 12, the former British Number One over came a ‘shaky’ start to book a place in Round 2 against Anett Kontaveit.

Watson came in to the tournament on the back of three first-round defeats in her previous three tournaments, but gave a philosophical approach as to why she remained optimistic coming in to Wimbledon.

“When I came here, I was actually practicing terribly. I had a practice with Petkovic the other day. I lost 6-1, 3-0. But I was really excited about it because I’d been practicing well and losing.

“So I thought, I’m not practicing well now, and look, I’ve won. (Smiling)”

“I’m a confidence player, so not having those wins in the last few weeks, I was maybe overthinking a bit. But I’d been practicing really well, winning all my practice sets. So losing in those first few rounds was quite disappointing.

“I was a bit nervous today and I think it showed. Wasn’t my best tennis but really pleased to get through.”

Watson admitted she was far from her best in the victory but can take some positives from the win as she looked ahead to a busy SW18, competing in the doubles (with Mandy Minella), and Mixed Doubles with Henry Kontinen.

“I didn’t enjoy any of it (today), apart from when that last point was done!

“I was really pleased with that last game, I was shaky on my serve at the beginning.

“But in the last game I think I made most of my first serves.

“They were really good.

“Just pleased with how I closed it out, finished, stayed calm.”

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Estonian 20th seed Kontaveit took three sets to get past American Shelby Rogers, but does boast a 2-1 head to head record over Watson.

“She’s having maybe the best year of her career so far”” Watson said of Kontaveit.

“It will be a tough match, I mean every match here is tough, that goes without saying, but hopefully I can loosen up and improve my level.”

Watson, 27, is in her tenth year at SW18 and has reached the third round on three occasions, most recently in 2017. On those ten-years Watson said:

“It hasn’t changed at all!

“I think my excitement, my nerves, I can never sleep well.

“It’s the same every year. I think that’s great for me because it shows how much I wanted it then and how much I still want it now.”