Last updated: 30/07/2012

Watson and Robson both win in Olympics round one

Heather Watson and Laura Robson were both straight sets winners in round one of the Olympic tennis women's singles event at Wimbledon.

Watson was the first British winner of the day, coming through 6-2, 6-2 against Spain's Silvia Soler Espinosa on Court 17.

Moments later Laura Robson joined her compatriot in round two with an impressive 7-6(4), 6-4 win over world No.23 Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic in front of boisterous support on Court 18.

A delighted Watson, the British No.1, said after her win: "It was great, I’ve got my first Olympic win under my belt. The atmosphere was amazing, it’s very different to Wimbledon, the crowd were a lot louder."

With Robson going well on a court not far away from Watson, the 20 year old from Guernsey confessed to hearing the cheers for her countrywoman in the middle of her own match, going on to say :"It was distracting, all I could hear was 'Laura Laura!'"

18 year old British No.3 Laura Robson was also well aware of the tremendous British support happening across Wimbledon, especially on her court:

"I had such a good crowd today, every time the Czech supporters started getting loud they got even louder, it was a perfect atmosphere!"

Laura Robson

A delighted Laura Robson after taking match point

In round two both British players will meet seeded Russian opponents with Robson playing world No.3 Maria Sharapova and Watson taking on world No.15 Maria Kirilenko.

Following Robson onto Court 18 was Elena Baltacha in her second round match against Serbian Ana Ivanovic, bidding to become the first member of Team GB to reach the third round.

But it was the 11th seed who came out on top, winning 6-4, 7-6(5) after a tight match in front of a vocal crowd in the sunshine at Wimbledon. Baltacha, the world No.102, said afterwards:

"It was tight. I had a couple of break-points in that second set to go 4-3 up. If I'd taken one of them maybe something would have been different. It was a very tight match, I just wish, if I had taken that opportunity it would have been a different match.

"The first few points of a tiebreak are always the key and I gave them away too cheaply. But it was a good match, I thought she played well, when she’s on she’s very difficult."

The last GB match of the day saw Baltacha & Anne Keothavong beaten 6-3, 6-1 by Germany's Goerges & Gronefeld to end both players Olympic singles & women's doubles campaigns.

Baltacha was asked if she thinks she'll play at Wimbledon again: "It depends. I need to get my ankle sorted and see how the six months [of rehab] go. In my head I want to come back in February but if my home comforts are more what I want to do then I’ll retire come January."

Reflecting on her Olympic experience she continued: "Amazing. That’s what we were discussing at the end, we got a bit emotional because we were saying how amazing it’s been that we got in. We both played really really well in the singles and I really enjoyed playing doubles with Anne so I enjoyed my experience."

Keothavong added: "It’s a shame we had to go out so early but it was good playing doubles with Bally. I played a great singles match here and the support‘s been incredible. It was our first Olympics, and probably last, so we were just having a moment to ourselves there at the end."

Tuesday at Wimbledon will see the remaining three British players compete in their singles matches with Andy Murray playing Jarkko Nieminen second on Centre Court and Robson and Watson also in action.

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Day 3 - News

Big Names

Wimbledon Champions Roger Federer and Serena Williams continued their progress on day three with straight sets victories over Julien Benneteau and Urszula Radwanska respectively.  Top seed Victoria Azarenka dropped a set to Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania but came through 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 and there were wins for Sydney Gold Medallist Venus Williams, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki. 

Battles

The Men’s singles saw some superb contests on day three with some nail biting three set thrillers around the grounds.  Feliciano Lopez edged out Dmitry Tursunov 9-7 in the third on Court 11 while Marcos Baghdatis came through 6-7(6), 7-6(5), 6-2 against Japan’s Go Soeda and Denis Istomin setup a third round meeting with Federer by defeating Gilles Muller 6-7(4) 7-6(3) 7-5.

On the Doubles Court

The reigning doubles champions began the defence of their titles on day three with Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka and Venus and Serena Williams both moving through to round two.  The sixth seeded Swiss team were made to work very hard before seeing off Kei Nishikori and Go Soeda of Japan 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4 while the Williams sisters eased through 6-3, 6-2 against Romanians Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep.