Heather Watson

(Photo : Twitter/Abierto Mexicano)

Heather Watson claimed her fourth WTA Tour career title after beating Canada's seed on Saturday.

The No. 7 seed from Great Britain received her first WTA singles title since 2016 after a marathon encounter on Saturday evening where she played Canadian teenager Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-7(8-10), 6-1.

Watson, 27, claimed her victory with her 10th championship point after withstanding a second-set fightback from Fernandez, 17, earning her the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC singles championship.

Her victory will see her re-enter the Top 50 of the WTA singles rankings.

"It's been a few years, so I'm just really, really happy I came through that match," she said.

Watson saw her first five championship points slip away during the second-set tiebreak. She regrouped in the third set before finally converting her 10th championship point to earn her fourth WTA singles title. 

"I had those [match] points in the second set, and I wasn't able to win that, but I was really pleased with how I stayed in the moment and won that third set," she added.

The Saturday match ran for two hours and 46 minutes where Watson improved her record against Fernandez to 3-0.

Also Read: Rafael Nadal Advances to Semi-Finals of Mexico Open

The British's previous title also came in Mexico when she secured victory in Monterrey in 2016. Her other career WTA singles titles were in 2012 at Osaka and in 2015 at Hobart.

Heather Watson is the first British player to reach the Acapulco final and win the title. Her victory will move her closer to her career-best position of 38, a position she reached in January 2015.

Her opponent, Leylah Fernandez, will also rise in rankings after reaching her first quarter-final, semi-final, and final this week. Leylah, who is the current world no. 190, is projected to move up at least 60 spots in the WTA singles rankings.

Watson sang praises for opponent Fernandez after the match, calling her a "great player" and said she was "very, very mature for her age." She also said Leylah has "a great career ahead of her if she keeps playing like this."

Heather Miriam Watson, coached by Morgan Phillips, was born in Guernsey on May 19, 1992. She started playing tennis when she was seven-years-old. She went to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy at the age of 12 where she still currently trains. 

She was formerly British No. 1, winning the mixed doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships with Henri Kontinen.  

She won her first WTA singles title at the Japan Open in October 2012. Watson became the first British woman to win a WTA singles title since the last British woman, Sara Gomer, won the title in 1988.

Maria Sharapova once shared a match with Watson at the first round of the US Open in August 2011 where she described the British player as "a great up-and-coming player."

She became the highest-ranked British junior in July 2009, overtaking Laura Robson. By the end of the 2009 season, Watson held a world singles ranking of No. 588.

Watson traveled to Pune in India and won the US Open and gold at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games against Kyra Shroff during her junior career.  

She also won the British Under-14 Championship in 2006, won the British Under-16 Championship and 2007, and reached the semifinals of the British Under-18 Championship in 2008 where she lost to eventual winner Tara Moore.