ROBSON LEFT IN TEARS
DEFEAT AGAINST SWEDEN IN FED CUP
Laura Robson wept tears of anguish after a brave and sometimes brilliant rearguard action failed to stop Great Britain’s hopes being sunk by Sweden in their Fed Cup World Group play-off.
Parachuted in by captain Judy Murray to try to save the tie from 2-0 down overnight, the 18-year-old showed why she is an outstanding prospect by storming back at home No. 1 Sofia Arvidsson before losing 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, having saved eight match points.
She had to be consoled by Murray and team-mates Heather Watson and Elena Baltacha after falling short of what would have been a stunning comeback against a
highly accomplished
opponent. In blitzing the experienced Swede in the second set, the Wimbledonbased teenager made a nonsense of her world ranking of 121, which will surely be shrunk once she gets a run free from injury.
Despite playing on a super-slow indoor court, she hit 47 outright winners after replacing the out-ofsorts Baltacha. ‘Maybe in a few days I might take some pride from this but I’m just pretty devastated now,’ said Robson.
Murray, while disappointed with the overall 4-1 defeat, praised Robson, saying: ‘She is very exciting, she hits the ball very heavy off both sides. When she is hot she is red hot.’
Robson has shown that her movement is improving towards the point where it should not compromise a natural ball-striking ability first marked out when she won junior Wimbledon at 14.
She aims to have a new coach who will have masses to work with. Ultimately, though, it was a deflating weekend, with Britain’s hopes of getting back into the elite 16-team World Group after 19 years put back until 2014 at the earliest.