The former British No.1 player and Olympic medallist Laura Robson mounted the biggest win in her comeback as she outplayed World No. 65 Varvara Lepchenko in little over an hour. Robson, who has struggled with her confidence and consistency since returning to the tour, managed to play a near faultless match in order to get the better of an experienced left-handed player in Lepchenko.
Laura Robson Sticks To Strategy To Knock Off Lepchenko
In the early stages of the match, both Robson and Lepchenko were battling for supremacy in the duel for the baseline – a struggle that Robson would eventually find a way to win. The first real sign that Robson was going to prevail victorious came at 3-2 when obtaining numerous break points at 15-40. The Brit did not manage to take any of the break points, but slowly she manoeuvred her way into a winning position as she won arguably the point of the match at 5-4 30-30. A long, drawn-out point saw Lepchenko retrieving many balls from beyond the baseline, but Robson applied the finishing touches and dispatched the volley to her delight. Robson’s positive and persistent tennis aided her as she stuck to a winning formula by becoming the dictator in many of the rallies – something that Lepchenko found difficult to deal with.
The second set painted a very different picture to the first set. Despite Robson going down an early break, she clawed her way back into the set immediately and completed the task at hand with some ferocious forehands. Many would argue that Laura Robson produced some of the tennis that elevated her to the fourth round of Wimbledon. As the match reached it’s conclusion it became apparent that Robson had the heavier ball and was effecting the mindset of Lepchenko to a greater extent than vice versa. In the early stages it was a aggressive tussle between the pair, but in the second set there was a notable transformation in just how heavy Laura Robson was striking the ball.
Just as it was witnessed when Robson beat the likes of Kim Clijsters and Li Na at the US Open in 2012, Robson’s game is heavy and aggressive enough to unsettle the very best. It can be debated whether she’s always supplied the consistency in her service motion and the clarity in her movement, but Robson will have the confidence in the back of her mind that one day she will reach similar heights to the years before her wrist injury.
Robson’s Road Ahead
In the next round, Robson opponent will be Katerina Siniakova, a very emotional player that can lose her focus at the best of times. It will be an interesting talking point on just how Robson manages to handle what is taking place on the other side of the net. Although Siniakova’s concentration levels can vary in pressurized moments, she understands the dimensions of a grass court tremendously. The Czech’s ability to vary the pace on both backhand and forehand makes her a dangerous proposition on this particular surface, which was apparent in her straight sets win over former Aegon Classic finalist Donna Vekic in the early hours of the day.
In Laura Robson’s post-match press conference, she was very enthusiastic but realistic about her 2016. “Any win is a good win at the moment,” she reflected on her long road back to the top of the women’s game. Robson also said “I can always do more on my serve,” and continued saying that she had purposely taken a lot off the first serve in today’s match in order to make a lot more of them. She would later reiterate that ideally she would like to be making first serves with the additional speed but seemed content with the way the match unfolded today.
An additional positive for British tennis fans is that Robson believes she is playing great on the practice courts and mentioned the process she is currently in involves translating the good practice sessions to positive competitive match wins.
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