Britain’s Laura Robson’s hopes of breaking into the world’s top 50 for the first time suffered a blow following a second round loss to Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino at the China Open.Having reached her first WTA final in Guanzhou just over a week ago, Robson had been hoping to continue her run of good form with the aim of securing a top-50 ranking by the end of the year.
An evenly matched opening set went with serve until the highly experienced Dominguez Lino converted the first break point of the contest in the very last game to win the first set 7-5.
Quick breaks saw the Spaniard take a 3-1 lead in the second and she wrapped up victory in just over 90 minutes, winning 7-5, 6-3. Robson has risen from 131 in the world to 60 in the past year, reaching her first WTA final and enjoying her most successful run at the US Open last month, where she reached the last sixteen.
Robson returns to action at next week’s HP Open in Osaka, Japan where she will be looking to gain important ranking points as the season draws to a close.
Beth Shine, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
