Robson Well-Beaten In Melbourne

Laura Robson's Australian Open campaign lasted less than an hour as she fell to eighteenth seed Kirsten Flipkens 6-3 6-0 becoming the first player to exit the tournament in the process.

An error-prone display from the Brit ensured a hasty demise, lasting just 50 minutes on court as the Belgium dominated. Her preparations for the tournament were hardly ideal, a wrist injury forcing her out of Hobart and Auckland, but an erratic performance will have left her far from pleased with her display.

Robson was careful to avoid talking about her injury after the match, telling the press, "I'd prefer not to talk about my wrist because then it turns into a massive excuse. Practice is a lot different to playing a proper match in Slams".

Australian-born Robson received warm applause but started poorly when she was broken to love in the opening game. Flipkens never allowed her to gather any momentum, making just 4 unforced errors compared to Robsons's 32.

The set continued on serve until 5-3 when Flipkens broke again, gaining the opening set. The Belgium had just two break points in the first set but executed both of them, whilst Robson failed to earn a single break point during the match.

The break at the end of the first set took any fight out of Robson, who struggled to break down a rigid Flipkens. The mistakes kept on coming as she completely fell apart in the second set. Wild volleys and groundstrokes led to an eventual 6-0 loss and an early exit for the British hopeful.

Flipkens will face Australian hopeful Casey Dellacqua, who overcame two time semi-finalist Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-2 in the second round.

Published on SEaT Capital.