Heather Watson loses to Wang Xinyu in Thailand Open quarter-finals

Heather Watson's run at the Thailand Open came to an end as she was beaten by China's Wang Xinyu in the quarter-finals. 

The British No 6 suffered a 3-6 7-6 4-6 defeat to the seventh seed in what marked her first quarter-final appearance since making it to the semi-finals of the Birmingham Classic in June 2021.

Having dropped the first set Watson had led 4-1 in the second only for Wang to fight back, before the Brit eventually clinched it after the pair had exchanged eight breaks of serve.

Wang later broke in the seventh game of the third to pave her way to victory.

The 21-year-old gave up just two double faults to Watson's six, converted seven of 15 break points to her opponents four of nine and had a first serve win percentage of 75 to 63.

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Watson had reached the final eight with a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory over Na-lae Han that would see her move back into the world's top 150.

She opened the tournament by beating world no 44 Yulia Putintseva 5-7 6-4 7-6 (5) in her first win over a top 50 opponent since the Miami Open in March 2022.

The 30-year-old was looking to build off the disappointment of her first-round exit in Australian Open qualifying.