Wimbledon day 5

Raining in London, but with the roof that won't stop us from seeing at least some tennis. Though why they haven't started play on CC a little earlier today is beyond me. Hopefully if it continues to rain they will at least put on another match after Murray.

Anyway, first up, it's Laura Robson trying to make the third round of a Slam for the second time this year...

Come on Laura! Glad that the match is scheduled for CC.

Hope that Dimitrov finds a way to win against Zemlja.

Cheers MfC.

Woeful start from Robson.

pretty poor from Robson so far, made a few too many errors and has let her opponent settle. nice little return volley from Di Marino to break serve it must be said, Robson needs to settle a little here.

that's more like it, lovely return winner

good forehand from Di Marino to come back though.

duque marino looks like she has a big game

I like that play. Slice it a woman and she doesn't know what to do.

breaks back!

loose from Di Marino, back to deuce... crunching forehands from Robson, adjusting well to a dodgy bounce, earns breakpoint. Taken with a good BH pass which sets up the easy put-away, Robson levels.

This is better stuff. She couldn't buy a first serve in those first two games, now 3 in a row!! And a dropshot!!

the double-hander from Di Marino looks pretty ordinary. Lovely point from Robson, dominating with the forehand, bringing in her opponent with the dropshot, and putting away the BH pass. Robson holds to love, she's settled nicely after that iffy start.

great scrambling defense from Di Marino, but that last FH isn't coming back, and Robson breaks again for 4-2. Much better

just realised that it's not Di Marino, but D Marino (standing for Duque Marino). Whoops

anyway DF n°1 from Robson, but slips in a decent jamming second serve to go to 40-15, and then another good first serve lets her consolidate the break for 5-2. So far so good after a dodgy start.

4 games in a row.

The winner plays Erakovic who's had a really good year so far.

Zemlja has a match point but it's raining and Dimitrov's called for the trainer.

Come on Robson, I have stuff to do today.

Gah, Robson with a few errors and a couple of DFs and she's broken back. Not a great game that one, but to be fair Duque Marino is making her play a lot of shots.

All this unplayable stuff is winding me up..

Come on laura!!

Finally got the set, Laura mixing up some very nervous and very good play there

Robson duly breaks again with a stinging BH pass which Duque Marino can't handle. That was harder than maybe it should have been, but she got the job done in the end.

Dimitrov rescues MP, with a huge second serve which Zemjia very nearly gets a lucky net chord from...

another MP comes and goes, this time with a desperately poor return from a less impressive second serve...

Laura Robson (she's stunning in HD I have to say) making a few too many errors but she's still doing enough to get by here.

She is all over the place at the moment. Luckily her opponent is worse.

She needs to just get her first serve in and not force it because she's dominating the rallies

See?

 

Come on Laura... Break pt!

 

Robson breaks with a stunning cross-court FH pass

The most encouraging thing I've seen about Laura this year, aside from her serve on Tuesday, has been how much better her movement is than it used to be

Dimi's out. That a blow i was looking forward to seeing him play del po...

Dimitrov out at the 2nd round.

Possibly the first time he's lived up to the 'Baby Federer' label!

Duque Marino is defending really well, but it's just too much to keep returning big ground stroke after big groud stroke. Robson starting to purr as she holds to love with some ferocious hitting to move into a 3-0 lead.

HM Murdoch wrote:Dimitrov out at the 2nd round.

Possibly the first time he's lived up to the 'Baby Federer' label!

 

Very true Murdoch!

Zemlja was just rock solid all the way through.

Glad to see Laura finally taking 1st set, and that she is up in 2nd

Good volley by Duque Marino

time please wrote:Very true Murdoch!

Zemlja was just rock solid all the way through.  

Glad to see Laura finally taking 1st set, and that she is up in 2nd

Yes, Zemlja was a worthy winner.

Dimitrov... he still seems a long way off. His style of play is easy on the eye but he doesn't strike me as being on the cusp of a surge up the rankings.

Robson serving for set

At the risk of being accused of WUMmery, Barry Cowan is in the Royal Box

You take that back Juan... Cowan got 2, see it 2 sets off sampras at wimby once! Thats 1 less than the total sets federer has taken off him. Coincidence?  

Well done Laura..

Easy win for her in the end..

My apologies then Wimbledon legend Barry Cowan is in the Royal Box today.

there it is, Robson through 6-4 6-1

quietly impressive really, feel she didn't quite go for so much after the opening few games where she was a bit below par, seemed happier to build the points more knowing her opponent didn't have huge weapons to hurt her with. Very nice performance, and through to the third round she goes

Laura got better as the game wore on and the victory was comfortable in the end.

Well done Laura, keep the British flag flying high!

Once the nerves settled it was comfortable, another match against a lower ranked player next with Erakovic

Put in cowan sampras on youtube and you can see it... amazed at how tall cowan is, classic lefty big server

Cowan = Who??

I am glad Dimi went out after the whinge about the court being unplayable!

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/stats/day12/2205ms.html

slightly bizarre stats, if you only look at winners/UEs it looks pretty close, but really Robson walked it. First serve percentage a worry, but she got plenty out of it when it did land. Return of serve excellent, as it usually is, and in general thought that was a pretty solid effort. Next up Erakovic, which on paper is winnable, certainly...