Heather Watson one win away from French Open main draw

Heather Watson has registered a straight-sets win over Tereza Smitkova to move closer to the main draw at the French Open.

After a disappointing start to 2017, the British number two is taking part in the qualifying rounds at Roland Garros as she looks to secure a seventh successive appearance at the clay-court Grand Slam.

The 25-year-old had lost out to Smitkova on the same surface in Prague earlier this year, but she impressed in securing a 6-4 7-6 victory over her Czech opponent.

Watson broke serve on three occasions, while taking a second-set tie-break 7-3, to progress in one hour and 38 minutes.

She will now play Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands, with their only previous meeting coming at last year's US Open where Hogenkamp ran out a 6-2 7-5 winner.