LAURA ROBSON’S defence of her girls’ singles title came to an early end as the British starlet exited Wimbledon in frustrating fashion.
Robson struggled to shake off a back problem in her third-round match against Holland’s Quirine Lemoine on Court 18 and lost 2-6 6-4 8-6.
The 15-year-old required medical treatment during the first set and doctors later advised her to pull out of the doubles event.
She heeded that advice, meaning her Wimbledon campaign was brought to an abrupt end, but the injury did not sour Robson’s enjoyment of the fortnight, which began with her playing in the senior tournament after receiving a wild card entry for the first time.
Although she was beaten by Daniela Hantuchova in three sets in the opening round, Robson was happy with her performances until the injury struck.
‘‘I thought my first two matches in juniors were pretty good,’’ said Robson.
‘‘Against Hantuchova I was really proud of myself, so it has been a good two weeks, it is just unfortunate it had to end this way.’’ Robson, whose defeat came against a player two years her senior, revealed her back problem first occurred ten days ago and got progressively worse.
‘‘It is still pretty sore and I’m not playing doubles because the doctors advised me not too,’’ Robson added.
‘‘But I don’t think I will be out for that long.
‘‘We don’t know exactly what it is yet – we hope to find out in the next couple of days.
‘‘It gradually got worse throughout the match today.
It felt like I could not hit the ball that hard, especially on my serve, so it was difficult but I wanted to keep going.
‘‘It was a bit of spasm but it will get better. I thought I could have done a couple of things better but I was really limited because of my back.
‘‘It is really disappointing and frustrating but you can only learn.”
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