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14:53 GMT, Thursday, 3 July 2008 15:53 UK

Robson reaches girls' semi-finals

By Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Laura Robson

Britain's Laura Robson continued her stunning progress in the girl's singles at Wimbledon, beating Serbia's Bolana Jovanovski to reach the semi-finals.

Robson trailed 5-3 in the first set but won four straight games to clinch it and recovered from another early break in the second to win 7-5 6-4.

The 14-year-old from London plays Slovakia's Romana Tabakova next.

But fellow Briton Naomi Broady was beaten 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-4 by Noppawan Lertcheewakarn in her quarter-final.

Robson, who beat American top seed Melanie Oudin in the second round, is the youngest player left in her event.

Against Jovanovski, the ninth seed, Robson made a shaky start and initially struggled with her serve, hitting four double faults as she was broken in her first two service games to trail 0-3.

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Jovanovski immediately dropped her serve, however, and Robson's tenacious approach almost saw her repeat the trick at 2-3.

The Serb still served for the set at 5-4 but by then Robson's walloping forehand was beginning to cause her problems and she was quickly level.

After wrapping up the first set, Robson's serve again let her down at the start of the second, with more double faults costing her dear.

But she again responded well - levelling and breaking again to close out an impressive victory.

Robson, who was born in Melbourne and was brought up in Singapore until she was seven, lives a five-minute walk away from Wimbledon.

She will return on Friday to play Tabakova, 17, from Bratislava.

But Broady will not join her despite a battling display against Lertcheewakarn, the third seed.

Broady, 18, was far more powerful than her Thai opponent and her athleticism and big serve gave her the edge at times.

Too often, though, the British Under-18 champion from Stockport was guilty of sloppiness at key moments and one such lapse saw her serve fall apart when she served for the first set.

She recovered to take it in a tie-break - saving two set-points in the process - but more mistakes cost her in the second set and she could not play her way out of trouble.

The pattern continued in the decider and it was the Thai's steadiness that eventually gave her victory.

Lertcheewakarn, 16, will play Belgian's Tamaryn Hendler in her semi-final.



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Related to this story:

Wimbledon day 10 as it happened (03 Jul 08 |  Tennis )
Wimbledon photos (03 Jul 08 |  Tennis )

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