Laura Robson reaches Aussie Open final

Laura Robson reached the final of the Australian Open junior event on Friday.

Yet to drop a set in the entire competition, Robson knocked out Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the semi-final, beating the No.1 seed 6-4 6-3.

The match, which was a repeat of last year’s Wimbledon final, suffered a two-hour delay to allow the temperature in Melbourne to drop from a high of 44C.

Robson finally finished the job off in 74 minutes notching six breaks of serve and three aces along the way.

The 15 year-old, who celebrated her birthday last week, will now meet Ksenia Pervak in Saturday’s final. The Russian defeated Heather Watson in the last eight and is the No.3 seed.

Robson will be chasing her second junior Grand Slam title and, if victorious, is expected to rise to the top of the junior world rankings.

Norfolk's title defence back on track
Peter Norfolk has reached the quad singles final after coming through his must-win third round-robin match on Friday.

Norfolk, who lost his second match against world No.1 David Wagner, got his title defence back on track with a victory over Nick Taylor, beating the American 7-5 6-1.

The British No.1 will face Wagner once again in Saturday’s final as he attempts to win his third quad singles title at Melbourne Park. He will also be bidding to lift the quad doubles trophy when he teams up with Johan Andersson against Wagner and Taylor in the final.

Back in Britain, Norfolk will be making his debut on BBC1’s Question of Sport when the popular quiz show is broadcast on Friday at 7:30pm.

Robson through to final four in Australia

Laura Robson was a set up but trailing 5-2 when her opponent retired injured during their quarter final in Melbourne.

With conditions climbing to over 40°C on court for a second successive day, Robson won the first set 6-3 but her opponent Elena Bogdan began to play a far more attacking game in the second set and built up a 5-1 lead.

Stretching for a wide ball, Bogan went over on her ankle and looked in considerable pain. After a medical time out and against the advice of the doctor, Bogdan decided to play on although she was clearly struggling to put any weight on her ankle.

With Bogdan wanting to play on in an attempt to secure the second set knowing that the heat rule would force play to be suspended, it was up to the doctor to declare the Romanian unable to continue. Robson is through to her second Grand Slam semi final and will face top seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn for a place in the final.

Meanwhile, Heather Watson was defeated by third seed Ksenia Pervak 4-6 5-7. The 16 year old battled bravely in the heat and had chances against her higher ranked Russian opponent but was unable to win the crucial points.

Peter Norfolk's Aussie Open quad singles title defence also suffered a set-back as he lost against world No.1 David Wagner 2-6 6-2 4-6. However, the round-robin format means if he beats American Nick Taylor in his last pool match, he will progress to the final to face Wagner for the title.

Laura Robson - youngest British player ever to win Junior Wimbledon

When Laura beat third seed Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in the final of the 2008 Girls Singles at Wimbledon on Saturday 5th July 2008, the world sat up and took notice. She had already beaten the number 1 and number 9 seeds on her way to the final and seemed unfazed by the Court 1 experience.

However, many in the tennis world have been aware of Laura's precocious talent for years. She was the first British 13 year old (boy or girl) ever to win an ITF International U18 tournament. And now she is the youngest British player ever to win Junior Wimbledon.

Indeed you only have to look at the rest of her family to appreciate why Laura Robson is arguably the most exciting tennis player of her age in the world.

Laura's mum was a professional basketball player, while her brother swam an Olympic qualifying time. One of her cousins represents Australia in kayaking, another pulls on the Australian colours in hockey. Sporting success through-and-through.


Laura has a big future ahead of her. She’s the number one in her age group in the world, and is already number 5 in the ITF U18 world ranking, which at the age of 14 is an exceptional achievement. She is higher than any of the worlds current top 10 at the same age.

In December 2006, Robson won the prestigious Eddie Herr International tournament, beating the top seed in a close final.

Weeks later she reached the last four of the Junior Orange Bowl. Both tournaments attract the very best juniors in the world, and the roll-call of previous winners of the Eddie Herr International include Steffi Graf and Anna Kournikova.

Earlier in 2006, Robson won the leading international U13 tournament in Annecy, France despite being a year younger than the age group she entered. She also made the final of the Auray Open Super 12 in France.

In 2007 Robson reached the final of her second ever ITF U18 event – the Prokom Cup in Poland. The following week she won one of the toughest ETA U14 events in Holland – the Cup Carl Gantois event.


Personal details

Date of birth: 21 January 1994

County: Middlesex

Honours and achievements

2008: Wins Girls' singles title at Wimbledon

2008: Finalist Les Petits As, Tarbes

2007: Wins Eddie Herr tournament (G14 Florida USA)

2007: Wins singles title at ITF junior tournament in Finland

2006: Semi Finals of Orange Bowl U14 tournament

2006: Champion Eddie Herr International U12 tournament

2006: Champion Annecy U13 tournament

2005: Winner of U14 Ariel indoor series

2003: Reached third round of ETA U12 event when only 10

2003: Represented GB in U12 ETA team event

2003: Represented GB in U12 ETA team event