LAURA ROBSON suffered another first-round defeat — and deepened the dilemma for tennis chiefs over Wimbledon.
The former British No 1, 22, went down 6-3 7-5 to Portuguese qualifier Michelle Larcher de Brito in the first round of the Aegon Open in Nottingham.
And she admitted: “I could really do with some wins. That would definitely help my confidence.
“But it’s not technique that’s stopping anything, it is more match rhythm.
“Top players have a couple of bad points but then get back on it. Today, I let that go on for too long.”
Robson, who returned to tennis last summer after 17 months out with a wrist injury, has managed just one win at elite level since reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon three years ago.
Last year rules were tightened around the awarding of SW19 wildcards to British players.
And the ex-world No 27’s current ranking of 308 may not be regarded as high enough to justify a free pass to the main draw.
Granting her entry to SW19 qualifying could be a good compromise.
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On a mostly bad day for the Brits, No 2 Heather Watson slumped to a 4-6 6-0 6-4 loss to Slovakia’s Magadalena Rybarikova and British No 3 Naomi Broady went down 6-2 6-1 to Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei.
But qualifier Tara Moore, the British No4, beat Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2 7-5 to record only the second victory of her career at WTA level.
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