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Britain's Heather Watson secured a place in the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time with victory over Stefanie Voegele in the French Open.

The 19-year-old British number three twice came from a break down to defeat the Swiss player 6-4 6-4.

Voegele, who in the first round at Roland Garros last year, broke back to level at 4-4.

But Watson, who on Thursday, broke again to seal the match in one hour 28 minutes.

The Guernsey teenager let slip a 4-1 lead in the second set against Peers but held her nerve to win on her 19th birthday.

In the first round of the main draw she faces French wildcard Stephanie Foretz Gacon.

Fellow Britons Elena Baltacha and Anne Keothavong qualified directly for the tournament and Friday's draw offered Britain's women a great chance of posting a first win since Clare Wood beat Gigi Fernandez in round one in 1994.

Watson's victory makes her the first British woman since Kate Brasher in 1983 to win a match in the final qualifying round in Paris.

It also continues a welcome recovery after she suffered a second-round defeat at an ITF tournament in Cagnes-sur-Mer and a bad-tempered loss in qualifying in Rome.

"Before Rome I played in Cagnes-sur-Mer and I lost a match where I had two match points, and I was devastated. That's because I wanted to win that match too badly, I wasn't able to put it away," Watson said.

"Since then I've turned over a new leaf. I vowed never to throw my racquet ever again. I'm going to have fun and enjoy tennis. I loosened up in Rome but I got mad, so I'm just taking baby steps.

"I saw pictures of the racquet-throwing in Rome and it looked terrible. It was very unprofessional and that's not my goal. There's bigger things going on in the world to get mad at than tennis and a few points.

"It feels great. The only other match I've won in a grand slam was (in qualifying) in Australia so this is big for me. I'm feeling very confident and happy with my performances so far."