Filed under: Tennis, Wimbledon
Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova survived a scare against Laura Robson to end the British teenager's hopes of delivering a famous SW19 shock.Sharapova, the 2004 winner and pre-tournament joint-favourite, claimed a 7-6 (4) 6-3 victory over the 17-year-old on Court One to secure her place in the third round at the All England Club, capping a day of disappointment for the British women as their involvement in the draw was ended after Elena Baltacha had earlier exited the competition.
The contest had to be put back 24 hours to Friday following rainfall on Thursday but it was Robson who burst out of the blocks, breaking in game two when the Russian double faulted before racing into a 4-1 lead.
COMPETITION: Win a HEAD Tennis Racquet Signed By Andy Murray
Fifth seed Sharapova swiftly fought back, however, breaking back in game seven when Robson could only find the net with a forehand, but the Brit refused to crumble and held her next two service games to take it to a tie-breaker.
A shock looked on the cards once again as Robson raced into a 4-2 lead but Sharapova kept her cool and reeled off the next five points to move a set ahead.
Robson, a former Wimbledon junior champion, continued to fight bravely, though, and she responded to an early Sharapova break with one of her own in game three thanks to a fine forehand just inside the lines.
That only served to sting Sharapova into action and the Russian rattled off the next three games to move within one game of a place in the last 32. Yet, despite the duo being separated by 248 positions in the world rankings, Robson responded heroically by clawing back one of the breaks and, after holding her own serve, even forced break point at 30-40 in game nine only for Sharapova to dig deep and reel off three quick points to clinch the match.
There was further British heartache after world No. 68 Baltacha fell to a 4-6 6-2 7-5 defeat to 20th seed Peng Shuai.
The British No. 1 looked on course for a huge upset when she moved a set ahead only for the Chinese to hit back and force a decider.
Baltacha responded, though, and was twice up a break in the final set only to be pegged back on both occasions and Peng eventually edged it in game 12 when she broke for a third time in the set, converting her fourth match point.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Diego Forlan Diego Milito Dimitar Berbatov Dustin Johnson Eduardo Da Silva
No comments:
Post a Comment