Britain’s Australian-born 14 year old girls finalist Laura Robson came into this match 2nd favourite against Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn but raced into a 3-0 lead in the opening set with a big smile on her face with the sun shining and a busy court 1 attendance (although no sign of Marat Safin) whilst Venus was taking the women’s singles championship over on centre court.
Lertcheewakarn quickly levelled up the first set though by taking the next 3 games but Robson importantly and comfortably took the 7th game for a 4-3 lead. Laura then broke Noppawan’s serve and comfortably served out the first set wih a great dislay with her left forearm.
Robson broke Lertcheewakarn’s opening service game of the 2nd set, but the Thai junior broke straight back and then went into a 2-1 lead in the 2nd set with some excellently placed shots. But this topsy-turvy set took another twist after Robson held onto her own service game she broke again in the 5th, taking advantage of a 2nd break point.
Down 15-40 in the 6th game of the 2nd set, Laura saved 2 break points, the 2nd with an outstanding forehand across court. But she couldn’t take advantage of 2 advantage points she had and eventually lost the game on a double fault before slamming her racket into the ground. She looked frustrated after that and lost the next 2 games to love and 30 respectively. Leerthcheewakarn held her serve to make it 4 games straight and take the 2nd set 6-3.
Robso came out refreshed at the beginning of the 3rd set and then breaking Leertcheewakarn in the 2nd game with some good forehand shots like she was showing in the first set and some help from her opposition netting a few shots (and maybe some help from the wind on the final point!). Robson failed to tke a 3-0 lead, losing her own service game on a double fault, but broke Leertcheewakarn again to take a 3-1 lead, before saving a break point in the next and taking it to a 4-1 lead in the final set.
Laura Robson took the next 2 games to win the match and Wimbledon Girl’s Championship 6-3 3-6 6-1, the first British girl to win this title since Annabel Croft in 1984.
Laura’s strong serve and great forearm shots shows she has potential to go far in the women’s game in future years.
Filed under: tennis tips | Tagged: britain, british, champion, court 1, final, girls, junior, laura robson, noppawan lertcheewakarn, singles, thailand, title, Wimbledon
