FRIENDLY MATCH AT COLEMAN VISION
No. 6 Erakovic, Robson double as partners on tennis court
They know each other well — and know each others’ tennis games just as well.
So, it probably wasn’t surprising that sixth-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand and Laura Robson of Great Britain had one of the longest matches on what was a very long day of singles play in the 20th annual Coleman Vision Tennis Championships.
In the end, Erakovic erased a one-set deficit — and a twogame deficit in the final set — to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 and advance to today’s second round.
Both Erakovic and Robson, however, are still alive in the Coleman Vision field — and will be rooting for each other the rest of the way.
“We’re very good friends,” Erakovic said. But it’s not just that. They are also partners in doubles in the competition at Tanoan Country Club.
They have played together in a number of tournaments and will have their first match in this event today.
The time of their match, as well as the time of Erakovic’s second-round singles match, were still be determined Wednesday evening.
In other first-round matches in the 32-player open singles division Wednesday, there were a number of upsets: Sophie Chang beat fourthseeded Barbara Haas, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2; Canada’s Carol Zhao beat third-seeded Kayla Day, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1; Amra Sadikovic topped seventh-seeded Conny Perrin, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, and Emina Bektas beat second-seeded Sofia Kenin, 6-4, 7-6 (5).
Eighth-seeded Sesil Karatantcheva advanced in straight sets against Ulrikke Eikeri, 6-1, 6-2.
Top-seeded Viktorija Golubic was upset by Maria Sanchez 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9).
Robson, who like Erakovic was once ranked in the top 40 players in the world, won the first set using a powerful serve and big ground strokes. Robson, who has won two tournaments this year, is working her way back from a series of injuries that have limited her to playing just more than 30 matches the past four years.
“My goal is to work back to
that ranking,” she said of getting as high as No. 27. “It’s taken quite awhile, and I still have a long way to go. I’m getting there, slowly.”
Robson was the first British woman since 1998 to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament, and she did so in the 2012 U.S. Open and at Wimbledon the following year. She won a silver medal in the mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics playing with Andy Murray before suffering a series of wrist the injuries.
Erakovic, too, is on the comeback trail. The 29-year-old who was born in Croatia and moved to New Zealand when she was 6, has had a series of injuries, most recently a stress fracture of the patella (knee).
“Every player has injuries,” she said, “so you’ve got to ride the highs and lows. I’ve been back about a year-and-a-half. I feel like the last few weeks or month or so, my game is coming along quite nicely.”
She will play against Sanaz Marand of the U.S. today in singles.
Erakovic trailed 3-1 in the third set Wednesday and was one point from being down 4-2. But she came back to break Robson’s serve in that sixth game and never lost another game.
“It’s not easy here in Albuquerque with the really high altitude,” she said. “Balls are flying all over the place.
“… Here it’s a matter of how you serve and how you return. If you notice, we didn’t really have any amazing rallies or anything. It was really the first strike of the ball. Laura hits a big ball. If she’s serving well, it makes it very difficult.”
Robson had issues with her serve during the final two sets, many times having to toss the ball in the air two or three times before serving.
“She just served better, and in the end that’s what made the difference. She got me in that sixth game, and that turned it around.”