Robson secures rankings reward

Laura Robson, Britain's Wimbledon junior champion, will take her first step on to the senior international ladder next week when she is named in the Women's Tennis Association world rankings for the first time. The 14-year-old Briton earned her place in the list by playing yesterday in her third senior tournament, the Barnstaple Open in Devon. Although beaten 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 by Germany's Angelique Kerber, the world No 143, Robson has earned 27 ranking points since making her senior debut in Limoges last month and will enter the world list at about No 560, which would make her the British No 13. Robson reached the second round in France and the semi-finals of her second tournament, at Shrewsbury, where she beat Israel's Tzipora Obziler (world No 123) and Poland's Urszula Radwanska (No 128) before losing to Maret Ani of Estonia... [read full story]