Heather Watson edged into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with a nervy 7-5, 7-5 victory over Italy's Camila Giorgi. Giorgi, who is ranked 10 places above Watson, had won the duo's only previous tour meeting - at Beijing in 2012 - but Watson exacted her revenge despite facing a superb fightback from her opponent. Watson lost five straight games in the second set as 29th seed Giorgi levelled at 5-5, before the British No 1 finally clinched victory in an hour and 45 minutes. 'It was a very tough match as I knew it would be,' Watson said in an on-court interview. 'Camila's a great player; she's just shot up rankings in the last year. Heather Watson  celebrates defeating Camila Giorgi to move into the third round in Indian Wells . Watson survived a fightback to edge out her Italian opponent . 'I shot up to 5-0 but she also made quite a few errors. She started to came back. 'I didn't feel like I did too much wrong; she played too good, hitting winners and aces. I just had to stay tough and keep fighting.' Watson had scraped her way past Julia Goerges in the last round, and looked set for another tough encounter under the California sun. Both players exchanged two breaks each in the first set - much like Watson's match against Goerges - but things settled down soon after as they made it 4-4, with the Briton then holding serve with relative ease. Giorgi saved a set point at 40-15 on her serve but pulled a forehand wide to hand Watson the opening set. Giorgi was clearly off her serving rhythm - she hit 10 double faults in the first set - as she conceded an early break in the second, and Watson made it seven straight games to race into a 5-0 lead. The Italian, who is yet to win a singles title on the WTA tour, kick-started the recovery with a smooth service game, and had Watson running to all corners as a deciding set looked on the cards at 5-5. However, it was all in vain as Watson held serve to make it 6-5, and then needed just one of her three match points on the Giorgi serve to seal victory with the Italian firing a backhand long.
Watson held off a fightback from the Italian to win 7-5, 7-5 . Giorgi won five games in a row in the second set to ensure a nervy finish . Watson faces a tough task against seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the next round .