Laura Robson, the last British woman standing at Wimbledon, made it through to the third round for the first time yesterday, beating Colombian qualifier Mariana Duque-Marino in straight sets.
Robson, 19, the world No. 38, traded breaks with her 117th-ranked opponent in the first set, but rolled her way through the second to win 6-4, 6-1 in 73 minutes before an ecstatic Centre Court crowd.
She faces New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic in the third round.
Photo: EPA
“It’s a big win for me, any match on Centre Court is a big one. It was a great atmosphere out there and the roof being closed just made it louder. It was very exciting,” Robson said. “I was kind of feeling nervous, but luckily I’ve played on Centre a couple of times before.”
Australian-born Robson, who lived in Singapore until she was six, was the only British woman to make it to the second round.
Robson’s Grand Slam best was reaching the fourth round at the US Open last year, the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1991 to reach that stage of a major.
Photo: AFP
Robson and Duque-Marino were due to play on Court Two on Thursday before rain stopped play for the day.
The match was moved under the Centre Court roof, though the rain later cleared up enough for play on the outside courts.
Duque-Marino broke in the third game, but Robson broke straight back and broke again for a 4-2 lead in the first set. After holding serve, Robson had a set point in the next game, but her 23-year-old opponent held.
Photo: EPA
After seeing out the set, she raced through the second, breaking in the second game and did not look back from there.
In the men’s singles, Grigor Dimitrov staged a temporary sit-in protest to register his anger at court conditions before he lost a five-set thriller.
The Bulgarian 29th seed, watched by superstar girlfriend Maria Sharapova, who was knocked out on Wednesday, went out 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 to Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja in a second-round match suspended due to rain on Thursday.
When the tie resumed on Court Three after a two-hour delay caused by more rain, the 22-year-old Dimitrov slipped and fell in his service action at 8-9 to give up the third match point of the tie.
He then stomped off to the sidelines and sat in his courtside chair.
The umpire and tournament referee then decided to wait out the drizzle before play resumed 10 minutes later, but it did not change Dimitrov’s luck as Zemlja took the victory on a sixth match point with a fine forehand passing shot.
An air of calm descended at Wimbledon on “Tranquil Thursday” as Novak Djokovic avoided the trail of destruction that had decimated the field at the All England Lawn Tennis Club on the third day of the grass-court major.
After men’s champion Roger Federer, and women’s second seed Victoria Azarenka and third seed Maria Sharapova perished during a “Wednesday Wipeout,” it was left to the men’s world No. 1 to restore a semblance of normality.
The closed Centre Court roof allowed Djokovic to dodge the “nuisance rain showers” that crippled the rest of the late afternoon program as he completed a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 6-1 win over qualifier Bobby Reynolds.
Reynold’s exit meant that for the first time since 1912 no American man will play in the third round at Wimbledon.
The American men joined a host of others at the exit queue.
Along with Azarenka and Sharapova, three other former women’s world No. 1s — Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic — also slipped and skidded out of the tournament on Wednesday, with many of them declaring the lush green turf “too dangerous.”
Australian Open champion Azarenka and men’s sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among a record seven players to withdraw from a Grand Slam tournament in a single day.
Twenty-four hours later, French duo Michael Llodra and Paul-Henri Mathieu added their names to the growing casualty list.
Despite all the drama and controversy, Wimbledon’s new head groundsman declared he was “100 percent happy” with the condition of the courts.
Sprawling houses around the All England Lawn Tennis Club grounds that had been rented out for two weeks were abruptly vacated as Rafael Nadal, Federer, Tsonga and 2002 winner Lleyton Hewitt all headed home.
“It was surprising that so many top players lost in the last few days,” Djokovic said. “The fact that so many top players lost ... gives enough reason for all of us to not underestimate any opponent and not look that far [in the draw].”
Eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro, the only player outside the “Big Four” to win a Grand Slam in the last eight years, eased past Canada’s Jesse Levine 6-2, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3, while 2010 runner up Tomas Berdych beat German Daniel Brands 7-6 (8/6), 6-4, 6-2.
In the women’s draw, fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up 12 months ago, raced past France’s Mathilde Johansson 6-1, 6-3.
In the women’s doubles, Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia defeated Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, the 15th seeds, 2-6, 6-2, 6-1.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
Italian Luca de Aliprandini described Saturday’s World Cup giant slalom at Val d’Isere as the hardest race of his life, coming two days after his Swiss partner Michelle Gisin suffered a heavy fall in training which required neck surgery. De Aliprandini finished 26th in the men’s event won by Loic Meillard, but the result paled into insignificance with two-time Olympic ski champion Gisin in hospital with injuries to her wrist, knee and cervical spine (neck). “It was Michelle’s wish that I race here. I couldn’t say no to her, but it was the toughest race of my entire life,” an emotional De
RSS