Robson reaches Australian final
Britain's Laura Robson, 15, reaches Australian Open junior final
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Friday, 30, Jan 2009 10:36
Britain's Laura Robson has beaten Noppawan Lertcheewakarn of Thailand to reach the final of the Australian Open girls' singles.
The Melbourne-born 15-year-old, who lives in Wimbledon, secured a scrappy first set before turning on the style in the second to register a 6-4 6-3 victory.
Robson, who won the Wimbledon girls' singles title last year against the same opponent, began slowly and dropped her first service game.
However, the Briton soon found her range and her smooth style proved too much for the top-seeded Lertcheewakarn - who from 3-0 up won just one more game in losing the first set.
The momentum was with Robson at this stage and she took full advantage early in the second - breaking the Thai youngster twice for a 4-0 lead that put her within touching distance of the showpiece event at the weekend.
And although Lertcheewakarn twice broke back against the British girl, Robson held her nerve and eventually served out for the win.
In the final, Robson will face Russian third seed Ksenia Pervak with the prospect of a second junior grand slam title in three attempts that would also see her take the girl's world number one ranking.