Laura Robson’s chances of making the French Open quarters next month have received a boost despite the British number two crashing out of the third round in Madrid.
Robson, who has been bang out of form of late, battled hard on Wednesday and was one game away from beating Ana Ivanovic before her confidence imploded, the 19-year-old eventually falling on the last-set tie break 5-7 6-2 7-6.
It was a disappointing defeat for Robson, who started out as an outsider in the tennis betting odds, despite her defeat of Agnieszka Radwanska in the previous round. However, she can nevertheless take great positives from her performance.
A day after announcing she has split with coach Zeljko Krajan, Robson came out battling in Madrid and rightly took the first set. She survived a blip in the second to go 5-2 up in the last and it was only then that her service game failed her.
Over three sets, Robson hit 11 double faults – including Ivanovic’s match point – but matched her experienced opponent for great swathes of the clash.
Compare this to the last time the pair met – at Tokyo in 2011 – where Ivanovic made hard work of her two-set victory, Robson failing to covert 80% of her break points.
Since then the Brit has matured and, after ending a bad run of seven defeats in nine matches, is now firmly set to play the French Open with at least some confidence in her own ability.
To beat Radwanska on clay was a difficult task but then to go up against a former clay champion in Ivanovic was always going to be too much for Robson.
Luckily, the world number 41 should earn a better draw at Roland Garros and, if she can rekindle the confidence that earned her major success last summer, is a good outside bet to make the French quarters.
