Britain’s Heather Watson earned her biggest win in more than two years by thrashing China’s world number 22 Wang Qiang in the Tianjin Open second round.

Watson, ranked 103 places below Wang, won 6-3 6-0 against the number two seed in one hour 18 minutes in China.

The 27-year-old had not beaten an opponent ranked as high as Wang since victory over world number 19 Anastasija Sevastova at Wimbledon in 2017.

Victory was only Watson’s second in a WTA tournament this year.

She will play Poland’s Magda Linette in her first WTA quarter-final since reaching the Hobart Open semi-finals in January 2018.

Wang, 27, was ranked as high as 12th earlier this year, after losing in the US Open quarter-finals to Serena Williams.

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