Wimbledon: Heather Watson's hopes of first major quarter-final ended by Jule Niemeier

Heather Watson was bidding to reach her first major singles quarter-final in her 42nd Grand Slam

Britain's Heather Watson saw her hopes of reaching a first Grand Slam quarter-final at Wimbledon ended in a straight-set defeat by Jule Niemeier.

Watson, who was played on every day of the tournament so far, broke serve at the start of the second set but was not able to maintain the advantage.

German world number 97 Niemeier, 22, meets compatriot Tatjana Maria next.

Maria saved match points and came back to beat 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko 5-7 7-5 7-5.

• Live scores, results and order of play
• Listen to the latest Wimbledon Daily podcast
• Alerts: Get tennis news sent to your phone

Watson's memorable run brought to an end

Watson's journey to her first Slam quarter-final has had a bit of everything. First, she celebrated an emotional opening victory over Tamara Korpatsch on her return to Court One - the stage she experienced a "disaster" when she went out in the first round last year having held match point.

Both her first two singles matches were played over two days because of late finishes, while the British number four said there was always going to be "a bit of drama" as she withstood Kaja Juvan's late resurgence to secure her breakthrough third-round win on Friday.

That victory saw her finally enter the singles fourth round at a Slam for the first time in 42 attempts, seven years on from when she served for the same goal against American great Serena Williams at SW19.

Sunday's preceding centenary celebrations ensured there was already an excited atmosphere as Watson emerged for her first Centre Court match of her 12th Wimbledon appearance.

Watson, who dropped out of Top 100 in February, defeated Niemeier in a final-set tie-break in their only previous meeting at Monterrey earlier this season.

However, it was Niemeier, in only her second Grand Slam main-draw appearance, who took charge to temper the partisan home support.

The German, who broke into the top 100 for the first time in May, held to love for 2-2 as she claimed five straight games.

A forehand winner concluded the first set inside half an hour, but Watson responded at the start of the second.

She survived a break point to eventually hold with a winner and then a Niemeier miss gave her a first break of the match.

But the elation that greeted that moment was not allowed to last long as Watson followed a double fault with an unforced error to allow Niemeier to hit back immediately.

A comfortable Niemeier hold restored parity and, after two close games, the German was able to produce the decisive blow as two Watson double faults helped her to a 4-3 lead.

A couple of forehand winners ensured she consolidated the break after trailing 0-30 and although Watson forced her to serve out the match, Niemeier ensured she would move on when the Briton missed a volley.