Young gun wildcards Laura Robson of Britain and Australian Sally Peers have defeated experienced 12th seeds Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei and Czech Kveta Peschke 6-3 6-4 in round two of the women’s doubles at Australian Open 2010 on Friday.
Teenagers Robson, 16, and Peers, 18, made up for failing to qualify for the Open’s singles tournament by waltzing into the third round of the doubles event, outclassing their higher-ranked opponents in straight sets.
Games went on serve early in the match as the Robson/Peers pair, both wearing bright yellow outfits, went point-for-point against Chuang and Peschke, who won the Hobart International doubles earlier in the month.
It was the wildcards who broke first, with Robson showing the form which saw her to reach the final of the Hopman Cup with men’s world No. 4 Andy Murray with her excellent net play.
In the eighth game, Robson and Peers set up three break points following a forehand return winner from the Brit, and they converted the break to lead 5-3.
Robson sent down several blistering serves the following game, and the British-Australian duo took the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Australian Open 2007 doubles finalist Chuang’s serve was under pressure, and Robson/Peer immediately broke the 12th seeds to lead 1-0.
The next game of the second set was a critical one for Chuang and Peschke, as they challenged Robson serve and grabbed two break point opportunities at 15-40. Robson was up to the task, though, sending down two strong serves, including an ace to stay in the game.
Peers was also in good form both at the net and from the baseline, and the duo held off another two break opportunities to hold 2-0.
The momentum seemed to shift as Chuang and Peschke tried to get back in the match, and they had their opportunity in an epic seventh game with Peers on serve.
Chuang was brilliant at the net, sending a volley deep into the left tram lines to get two break point chances, but it took a double fault from Peers to finally clinch the break on their fifth attempt and level at 4-4.
Robson and Peers broke back immediately after a difficult overhead smash from Peers set up their third break opportunity, which they easily converted and took a 5-4 lead.
The young pair served out the set and the match, advancing into the third round to play either Agnes Szavay/Roberta Vinci or Vera Dushevina/Anastasia Rodionova.
This is the first time Robson and Peers have played together, and their partnership only happened after Peers’ normal doubles partner, compatriot Isabella Holland, withdrew from the tournament.
Daniella Hantuchova of Slovakia battling against Laura Robson in the first match on the prestigious new 4000 seater No.2 Court.
Robson despair
Laura Robson is close to tears during her closely fought defeat to Daniele Hantuchova on her first senior appearance at Wimbledon.
Britain’s newest tennis hope, 15-year-old Laura Robson, said she was a "little bit upset" but "pretty proud" after her senior Wimbledon debut where she took former world number five Daniela Hantuchova to three sets in an impressive but ultimately unsuccessful display.
The reigning junior champion, the youngest player to compete in the main draw at Wimbledon since Martina Hingis, was handed the honour of playing the opening match on Wimbledon’s new No. 2 Court. And she so nearly marked the event in true style, storming to the first set and going a break up in the second before her experienced Slovak opponent fought back to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
One year on from lifting the junior silverware, Robson’s return to Wimbledon’s famous lawns was marked with a royal welcome. The Duke of Kent, president of the All England Club, was introduced to the two players before the match as part of the proceedings to officially open the new court.
It could easily have all gone to the head of a lesser player. But Robson is no ordinary 15-year-old. Her first point playing among “adult” company at Wimbledon was a booming ace – a great statement of intent against a player ranked 456 places above her.
Robson took the first game comfortably and immediately broke Hantuchova’s serve to lead 2-0. It was just the thing she needed to calm any nerves.
Robson’s forehand was working well and that meant that Hantuchova had to patrol the baseline to deal with the accuracy of the attack. Even when Robson dropped serve in the fifth game on a double fault she was able to bounce back in the next, breaking the Hantuchova serve to lead 4-2.
And when she faced break points herself she was able to withstand the challenge of an opponent 11 years her senior. She fought off three of them in the seventh game to move 5-2 ahead, but then missed a chance at set point in the next game with a backhand error.
In the ninth game, another set point came and went as Robson hit a double fault but she then clinched the set 6-3 when Hantuchova overhit to the baseline.
The 15-year-old, who lives so close to the All England Club that she could almost have popped home for a breather at the end of that first set, was now halfway to a famous victory.
In the second set, the pressure mounted with Robson attempting to maintain her lead and Hantuchova desperately striving to come back into the contest.
In the fifth game, it looked like things were all going Robson’s way as she used a forehand to set the pace and earn a break point opportunity. She converted that chance in the next rally as Hantuchova hit just long with a cross court backhand.
With Robson 3-2 up and serving, she was in the driving seat. But in the next game, the best shot was hit by Hantuchova who pulled out a forehand down the line for a first break point. Robson saved that with a service winner but, on a second break point, double-faulted for 3-3. The momentum was with Hantuchova, but there was still plenty of impressive play from Robson, particularly two aces that saw her hold for 4-4.
Hantuchova was matching her – with two classic shots, a backhand down the line and then a forehand to show that she was ready to unsettle the British girl. In the end, it was two double faults that cost Robson dear, handing Hantuchova the second set 6-4.
Robson needed to recover from the setback and looked perturbed as the third set began with all its challenges to both players.
And as the tension grew so did the number of double faults from the young Briton. The key break of serves in the final set both came on double faults, the last of which gave Hantuchova victory.
But in almost two hours on court Robson let no one down and rapturous applause accompanied her exit from the court. She had displayed court craft beyond her years for much of the match and will have learned huge lessons in the match against a vastly more experienced opponent.
How much she has learned today, and in the past 12 months in a growing tennis spotlight, will be evident when she returns next week to defend her Wimbledon girls’ singles crown.
"I hit a couple more double faults than I would have liked to, especially on the big points. But I'm still pleased with the way I played," Robson said
"That was my Grand Slam debut today, and I played a really good match. So, you know, it's different to juniors, but it's not that much different. I mean, if I would have got killed love and love, then, yeah, I'd be coming in here with a different opinion. But I didn't, so it's not too different from the level that I'm already playing."
After the match, Hantuchova was full of praise for her opponent. "It didn't feel very good being a set down and a couple games down and getting kicked by, you know, a girl 11 years younger than me," she said.
"Because she's left handed it makes it a bit tougher, but her serve is very good. She was hitting a couple of aces a game, and also she was very smart how she was using it. So I think the serve was working very well for her. Obviously she still has many things to improve, but I think she's on the right way.
"She seems like a very nice girl. It's important now that she has the right people around her. It's still a long way for her to go but definitely she's got a potential. And it's important she just keeps working, you know, on the right things and goes the right direction.
Tennis is not what it used to be. For years, we Brits would settle in for two weeks of glorious disappointment at Wimbledon. Yes, we had the greatest tennis tournament on the planet but, no, we had no man or woman capable of lifting the trophy.
Some flattered to deceive – a certain Timothy Henry Henman springs to mind – but every year the end result was the same: no male winner since Fred Perry in 1936 and no female winner since Virginia Wade in 1977.
But then, like London buses, the potential champions came along two at a time. First there was Andy Murray, who announced his arrival as a gangling teenager in 2005 and now, four years later, returns as the world number three and one of the tips for the title. And then, scampering along behind in Murray's footsteps came Laura Robson.
A year ago she was a 14-year-old slip of a lass with a lefty serve and a fighting spirit who emerged, blinking, into the media spotlight as she won the junior tournament. She was the first British winner since Annabel Croft 24 years earlier. Now, just 12 months later, Robson is back with a wild card into the main draw. Three inches taller and packing a few extra pounds of muscle, Robson is also much more experienced and, with a world ranking of 482, she is relishing her chance to play with the grown-ups.
But Robson is no ordinary 15-year-old. True, she has spent much of this summer trying to juggle professional tennis and sitting her GCSEs, but away from her school books she is a remarkably mature young woman.
When faced with the massed ranks of hacks and scribes who get over-excited at this time of year, she smiles, answers thoughtfully and is not above cracking a gag or two. Where most teenagers are tongue-tied in the company of more than two strangers, Robson is articulate, self-assured and already a real pro when it comes to sharing her thoughts with the public. As a result, her response to the offer of a wild card was enthusiastic but realistic.
"I had no doubts about accepting the wild card because it’s just going to be an unbelievable experience," she said. "I'm really looking forward to getting back to Wimbledon. Last year it was really fun to play in front of over 10,000 people so hopefully I’ll get to do that again. But I’ll be happy on any court. Whatever court they put me on, I’m fine with that."
It is all a far cry from last year when, as the cameras pointed at Centre Court and the established stars of the game, Robson scythed her way through the junior draw on the outer courts. And the further she got, the louder the whispers became. A British woman with a chance of winning something? Good grief, this must be seen to be believed.
So as Robson tried to prepare for the biggest match of her life, she suddenly found that she was not alone. Word had spread like wildfire and if she thought playing the final on a packed Court One was nerve-wracking, now she could not move without a gaggle of fans and photographers following her every move.
"There were quite a few people watching my practice," she said. "So there was about a hundred there. I was thinking, you know, I usually don't get this many people watching my matches, let alone practice. But going onto Court 1, I was shaking because I saw the match before me and I saw how many people were on there. Then I had really, really good support, though.
"It's weird seeing yourself on the front page of every newspaper, and seeing yourself on TV as well, making quite stupid comments."
Robson, though, is a fast learner. Her experiences at Wimbledon were stored away and helped her negotiate the media spotlight that tracked her through the rest of the year as she built on her junior success and started to play with the seniors.
Although she was still just 14, she headed for the professional ranks and made her debut at a small event in Limoges. Coming through the qualifying competition she took her place in the main draw and won her first round match against one Alice Balducci from Italy.
From there it was on to Shrewsbury and a step up to a bigger Challenger event where she reached the semi-finals. The following week, she lost in the first round of the Barnstaple Challenger but she had completed her first three senior events. Now she qualified for a world ranking. Now she was officially the world No.550. Laura Robson had arrived.
This year began with a trip to the final of the Australian Open junior event where even her precocious talent could not overcome the three year age gap between herself and Ksenia Pervak. The Russian had been playing on the main tour for a couple of years and was ranked 360 places above Robson who, at that point, had played just five professional events and was still only five months into her professional career.
Now she is back at Wimbledon where she has her junior title to defend and that first match in the main draw to contemplate. Older – but not much – stronger and more experienced, she thinks she is ready for what is to come.
"From the sounds of it, there is going to be quite a lot of pressure on me," she said. "I don't know what I am going to do but all I can do is go on court and try my best. Win or lose, if I have tried my best then I cannot be unhappy."
All of this and she has not even got her exam results back yet.
