Robson closes in on US Open spot

Laura Robson
12 April 2012

Britain's Laura Robson will on Saturday be aiming to reach her first grand slam by right in the final round of qualifying for the US Open at Flushing Meadows.

Robson has played at Wimbledon twice since winning the junior title at the All England Club in 2008, but was given a wild card on both occasions.

However, the 16-year-old's fate will be in her own hands as she takes on Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives for a place in the main draw.

"I am really pleased to be through to the last round of qualifying," Robson said after beating Russia's Vesna Manasieva in the second round on Friday. "I am playing well and feeling confident so hopefully I will put in another good performance."

Robson, who defeated former world number four Jelena Dokic in the opening round, was always in control against Manasieva, despite a brief lapse of concentration in the second set.

The teenager took the opening set 6-3 and charged into a 3-0 lead in the second with two breaks of serve. The second of those was gifted to Robson when her Russian opponent double faulted, but Robson promptly returned the favour in the next game before Manasieva held serve to reduce the deficit.

Despite being curiously unhappy with her choice of footwear - "I hate these socks" she said after losing one point - Robson was not going to be denied and secured another break of serve en route to sealing a 6-3 6-2 victory.

Compatriot Katie O'Brien missed out on a place in the main draw after losing her final qualifying match to Ukraine's Olga Savchuk in three sets in a bad-tempered contest.

O'Brien came back from a set and 3-1 down to level the match, but then lost the decider 6-1 and was given a warning from the umpire after hammering a ball out of court after being broken in the fourth game.

"I feel for Katie," said LTA head of women's tennis Nigel Sears. "She was in a desperate situation at 6-1 3-1 down but fought in typical Katie style and showed a lot of guts. She turned the second set around and I thought she had really found her rhythm but unfortunately lost her serve early in the third set and her head went down."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in