Watson is ranked number 484 in the women's senior rankings

Heather Watson has taken her biggest scalp yet in senior tennis by beating former world number seven Nicole Vaidisova in the United States.

The 17-year-old from Guernsey beat Vaidisova 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 7-6 (7-4) in the first round of the Tangipahoa Tennis Classic in Louisiana.

Watson will face Australia's fifth seed Michelle Adamczak, who has a senior world ranking of 150, in round two.

The tournament is part of the second-tier ITF circuit.

Vaidisova is ranked more than 300 places above Watson at 177 and has two Grand Slam semi-final appearances and six WTA Tour titles to her name, although the 20-year-old Czech has suffered a dramatic loss of form over the last two years.

606: DEBATE How good a win is this for Watson?

Watson followed her singles success with a doubles victory alongside fellow Briton Naomi Broady.

They defeated the American and Slovenian pairing of Chieh-Yu Hsu and Petra Rampre in another close encounter, fighting back to win 5-7 7-6 10-8 on deciding tie-break.

The British pair go on to face second seeds Jing-Jing Lu and Sheng-Nan Sun of China in round two.

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