Heather Watson scored the best win of her career on Sunday night when she defeated world No 8 Agnieskza Radwanska to make the last sixteen of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells . On the day that Laura Robson was again forced to postpone her comeback , Watson defeated a top ten player for the first time by overcoming the former Wimbledon finalist 6-4 , 6-4 in 93 minutes . Watson , benefiting from her groundstrokes and serve being boosted by the dry air and altitude in the Californian desert , played with the confidence derived from already having beaten two formidable opponents , Germany ’ s Julia Goerges and Italy ’ s Camila Giorgi . British No 1 Heather Watson celebrates after completing her impressive 6-4 , 6-4 victory on Sunday . Against the crafty Pole , who reached the final last year and had beaten her easily in her three previous meetings , she struck out bravely and was helped by hitting seven aces , often at crucial times . Radwanska seemed to have got back into it when she recovered to 3-2 in the second set , but Watson stopped her revival and held her nerve after breaking for 5-4 at the end . She was awaiting the winner of Carla Suarez Navarro and Russia ’ s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova . Meanwhile he friend and rival Robson has handed back the wildcard she had accepted into the qualifying event for next week ’ s Miami Open due to continuing concerns over her troublesome left wrist . Watson played a smart match to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska and reach the Indian Wells last 16 . Radwanska reached the final last year at the BNP Paribas Open but lost to Watson on Sunday . Watson keeps her eye on a forehand during her first top 10 player win over Agniesza Radwanska . VIDEO Williams continues California return as Watson stuns Radwanska . The former British number has not played for 14 months now , having last hit a ball in anger at the 2014 Australian Open and undergone surgery on wrist tendons early last summer . She had initially hoped to play in smaller events in California leading into Indian Wells , but has now had to postpone reappearing again with caution being the watchword . Robson is not said to have suffered any major setback but wants to be sure the area is strong enough to withstand the rigours of competition . A possible new target is a WTA event in Colombia next month but she has made it clear there will be no rushing back from what is the most infernal injury for tennis players . Watson 's serve was performing well during the 93-minute win for the Brit in the BNP Paribas Open .
The Brit defeated the World No 8 6-4 , 6-4 in an hour and a half . He will now face world number Laura Robson has again been forced to postpone her comeback .