Robson beaten on Wimbledon debut.
By Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Wimbledon
Robson paid the price for making too many errors against Hantuchova
British teenager Laura Robson could
not mark her senior Wimbledon debut with a win, losing to Daniela
Hantuchova despite making a stunning start.
Robson, 15, the 2008 girls' champion, hit some huge serves to power to the first set against the world number 32.
But errors began to creep into her game and two double faults handed the former world number five the second set.
Hantuchova, ranked 456 places above Robson, used all her experience in the decider to seal a 3-6 6-4 6-2 victory.
Cruelly
for Robson, it was another double-fault that proved her downfall on
match-point - and by then they had become a regular feature of her
game.
It had always appeared her serve would play a decisive
role against Hantuchova, but in the early stages it looked more likely
to be a positive one.
Playing in the first match on the new
Number Two Court, Robson made a statement of intent with her first
delivery - a booming ace - and it was her power and accuracy on serve
that provided her with the platform to take the first set.
The world number 488 is also capable of producing some thumping
groundstrokes too and initially her shots were too hot for Hantuchova,
a quarter-finalist here in 2002, to handle.
Robson raced into a
3-0 lead and, even after her Slovakian opponent clawed her way back to
3-2, she continued to attack, breaking again thanks to a big forehand
winner and keeping her cool to serve out for the set.
Things
seemed to be going according to plan for the British number 14 when she
broke to lead 3-2 in the second set, with her aggressive approach
keeping Hantuchova on the back foot.
But by now the value of
Robson's big serve was being undermined by its unreliability and
Hantuchova broke back immediately, before being gifted the second set
by two successive double faults by Robson at 4-5.
For the first
time, Robson appeared short of confidence at the start of the decider,
while Hantuchova seemed to have finally settled.
The 26-year
old was virtually unchallenged on her own serve and continued to pile
the pressure on Robson, who was looking shaky.
More double
faults put Hantuchova in control at 5-2 and, despite the best efforts
of a vociferous home crowd, there was no way back for Robson.
Hantuchova will play either 16th seed Jie Zheng or unseeded German Kristina Barrois in the second round.
