New British No 1: Laura Robson

First topic message reminder :

Congratulations to Laura Robson for becoming the top ranked British Lady.

This has come about because of points dropped last week by Heather Watson.

Onwards and Upwards

British Ladies
..... Name .................. Age ... WTA ranking
1... Laura Robson ....... 18 ..... 75
2... Heather Watson .... 20 ..... 76
3... Anne Keothavong .. 29 ..... 82
4... Elena Baltacha ...... 29 ..... 142
5... Johanna Konta ...... 21 ..... 148
6... Tara Moore ........... 20 ..... 241

British Men
..... Name .................. Age ... ATP ranking
1... Andy Murray ......... 25 ..... 3
2... Josh Goodall ........ 26 ..... 211

ps: Laura has an opportunity to extend her position as British No 1 as she is the only player in the top four playing this week - the $220 k WTA international event in Guangzhou, China (surface Hard, Deco-Turf) http://www.wtatennis.com/page/Tournaments/Info/0,,12781~1142,00.html

Peng breaks to go 2-0 up, Robson breaks straight back

Mad for Chelsea wrote:do they Juan? surely the Olympics final was as straightforward as they come

Indeed that was, but the mixed doubles final was something else.

As for the other British players, sadly you are right NS.

And Robson breaks and immediately Peng breaks back so we're on serve again.

Another couple of breaks exchanged. I'm wondering if this match is full of poor serving or great returning. I have a feeling which one.....

and to a decider we go. Come on Laura!

Ok, Robson breaks in the 1st game. Come on....

And Peng breaks back

Don't panic, Robson is a break up again!

more like it, a hold and then, you guessed it, another break, and Laura leads 4-1.

well done Laura

not easy but she battles through in three sets to make the semis

The Special Juan wrote:Another couple of breaks exchanged. I'm wondering if this match is full of poor serving or great returning. I have a feeling which one.....

I wouldn't be so sure given just how dominant Robson has been on the return this week so far.

Excellent win after a tough middle section.

Well done!!!

Not any easier against Cirstea though.

djlovesyou wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:Another couple of breaks exchanged. I'm wondering if this match is full of poor serving or great returning. I have a feeling which one.....

I wouldn't be so sure given just how dominant Robson has been on the return this week so far.

Excellent win after a tough middle section.

I heard she won over 50% of return points v Zheng. That's brilliant, but her own serve can be awful at times.

I think Radwanska U is the player to beat this tournament. She's had good results recently.

Her serve has been pretty poor all week, so it's testimony to how well she's playing that she's still coming through these matches.

With this win Laura breaks the WTA 1000 point barrier and is predicted to go to 62 in the world with those points.

Nore Staat wrote:With this win Laura breaks the WTA 1000 point barrier and is predicted to go to 62 in the world with those points.

Excellent. Top 50 by the end of the year is an achievable target as long as she keeps a) injury free and b) the momentum going. Cirstea might beat her in the next round though; 3 hours 3 minutes is very long for a BO3 match.

She won't be popular in China at the moment though!!

Hsieh (or is it Su-wei), I get confused with these Oriental naming traditions, impressed me in a few of the Far Eastern matches earlier in the season. IIRC, she plays slightly different to the Eastern European bashers and plays with a lot of slice and spin, though I might be wrong.

ryan86 wrote:Hsieh (or is it Su-wei), I get confused with these Oriental naming traditions, impressed me in a few of the Far Eastern matches earlier in the season. IIRC, she plays slightly different to the Eastern European bashers and plays with a lot of slice and spin, though I might be wrong.

I think she's more like Errani than Sharapova for example. I saw her play Sharapova at Wimbledon; she had a few chances but was well beaten in the end. As for the name, I think it's Hsieh.

It's interesting that since Birmingham, Laura is 8-7 against top 50 players, prior to that she was 1-14.

Show's why her ranking is improving.

djlovesyou wrote:It's interesting that since Birmingham, Laura is 8-7 against top 50 players, prior to that she was 1-14.

Show's why her ranking is improving.

Good point well made. The thing is that even a couple of years ago it was obvious that Laura had sufficient about her game to challenge highly ranked players (I recall a good performance in defeat against Jankovic at Wimbledon), and it was surely only a matter of time for her to start converting some of these encouraging performances in defeat into wins, especially against the players ranked 25-50. It's just taken maybe a year longer than expected for her to make the progression (in part hindered by injuries last year).

It's interesting that since Birmingham, Laura is 8-7 against top 50 players, prior to that she was 1-14.

Then next year she should be 14-1 against top 50 players. Top 10 here we come!

Ginny Wade does approve.

Nore Staat wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:I think she took it on the 8th SP.

Agreed MFC, but why do British players insist on putting us watching them through the wringer?

To be fair most of the British players don't. We know they are going to lose and they do.

I think it was a fair point - Henman and Murray share the habit of turning what should be routine wins into mammoth battles.

djlovesyou wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:Another couple of breaks exchanged. I'm wondering if this match is full of poor serving or great returning. I have a feeling which one.....

I wouldn't be so sure given just how dominant Robson has been on the return this week so far.

Excellent win after a tough middle section.

I'm going to say something that may seem ridiculously OTT, but here it is: I believe Robson is in the top 10, maybe top 5, returners on tour. The way she throws her hands forward through the ball on return of serve is simply magnificent, and puts huge pressure on her opponent.

MfC
Probably isn't all that ridiculous given her form at the moment - Laura is probably in the top 25 or so based on form in the last couple of months, and that is despite having an erratic serve (very good when it works, but has too many off-days) and still with limitations in her movement. Must be doing extremely well in other aspects of the game, with returning being one of her strengths - perhaps playing the mixed at the Olympics helped, as after trying to return Max Mirnyi's serve, most of these women must look easy

I agree with point above...as I said definitely at least top 25...from there upwards its subtle differences, and her movement if better will be the biggest telling factor, although slower conditions will not expose that as it once would have.

dummy_half wrote:MfC
Probably isn't all that ridiculous given her form at the moment - Laura is probably in the top 25 or so based on form in the last couple of months, and that is despite having an erratic serve (very good when it works, but has too many off-days) and still with limitations in her movement. Must be doing extremely well in other aspects of the game, with returning being one of her strengths - perhaps playing the mixed at the Olympics helped, as after trying to return Max Mirnyi's serve, most of these women must look easy

My favourite moment of the Olympics is when she belts Mirnyi's serve back at him for a clean winner. He looks utterly despondent.

What I like about Robson is the clean hitting...kind of Davenport like in the easy power generated.

This is because - like Davenport - she plays the game in a refreshingly old fashioned way.
Eastern grips!!! Eastern grips mean flatter shots, more straight line power, less spin.
Eastern grips also mean returns can be hit cleaner and harder...and we certainly see that from Robson.

I hope more the tour will adopt this approach...on mens and womens side, although it wont change greatly until kids stop being told to define their grip by picking the racquet up off the floor and thats their FH grip (Western). Its lazy and leads to less players hitting hard (i.e. flatter)...so ralleys simply last longer that way too.

If players start to that see Eastern grips with their easier power lead to a new differential advantage in matches through the newer players like Robson then perhaps we might start to changes of approach in the future. I hope so.

Match started Robson 4-1 up in the 1st set.

Bet365 have streaming.

It's de ja vu all over again.

5-1 up, double break, set point.

Now 5-4 on serve.

first set robson 6-4!

Nice start to the second set too now. 2-0.

Looking good for Laura to become the first British woman to reach a WTA final for around two decades. I still see room for improvement but she is looking good to break into the top 50 pretty soon.

Yep I thought she could make the final here...and S.Cirstea is no mug so would be another great win.

Against S. Hsieh in the final surely she would have a great chance at a maiden title - the 280 ranking points would push her up to around 50 in the rankings.

The 6th game seemed to go forever but now it has resulted in a 2nd break for Robson and it's now 5-1.

First 6 games followed exact same pattern as Set 1. Cirstea now to win the next 3 to get her breaks back.

She seems to be prone to concentration lapses I think, but she's young and it happens. She'll improve that aspect of her game with age. Perhaps Ivan could help her too.....

What's clear is that she can destroy these established leading players in sets...such is the power of her returning and groundstrokes. Clearly once she gets better at holding leads and not worryling about being ahead she's going to be very hard to beat.

gah. Robson earns a MP which is well saved, then another, also well saved and Robson makes a couple of errors into the net to give one break back.

Argh! Darn British players, mountains out of molehills and all that....

Laura's 2 points away from match...5-2 and 0-30...

Fantastic FH winner sets up MP

And she wins by breaking her to love.

6-4 6-2...wow this young woman can play!!!!

doesn't matter, great returning and she breaks Cirstea to love to win 6-4 6-2

I'm going to stick to my earlier statement: definitely top 10 on tour in terms of the return of serve

Ah where are you watching this? I think she has a great chance of beating Hsieh and really irritating the Chinese for the week.

Top 60 now?

I think we all see her in the upper echelons...she's one of the biggest hitters on tour already and can only get better. How far she goes I dont know...but she's making great strides now. I dont see why not top 10...

I watched it on fromsport.com TSJ.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:well she made a bit of a meal of it but got it done at the second time of asking, and that's a pretty impressive 6-3 6-3 win over the n°2 seed you have to say. Good to see she seems to be carrying through her Us Open form.

Getting way ahead of ourselves there's no player left in the draw who screams "better player" to me (Bartoli was the class of the field but had a stomach bug apparently - been quite a few retirements actually). I think it's a great chance for Laura to win a tournament here

what I said after she beat Zheng. Maybe not "getting way ahead of ourselves" after all

PS: I watched the very end off bet365.

The Special Juan wrote:Ah where are you watching this? I think she has a great chance of beating Hsieh and really irritating the Chinese for the week.

Top 60 now?

Yep, 57 as things stands. 53 if she wins the final.

Excellent, I'll try and catch the final tomorrow. Thanking you all