Laura Robson’s next opponent at the Wimbledon Championships already has one British scalp to her name.
The unseeded Kaia Kanepi beat Tara Moore in the first round, before accounting for seventh seed Angelique Kerber in the second, and Alison Riske in the third, to set up today’s last 16 clash with Robson.
While 19-year-old Robson is ranked 39 in the world, the 28-year-old Kanepi sits at 46 – although she has a Wimbledon quarter-final appearance in 2010 to her name.
However, despite today being only Robson’s second appearance in the second week of a grand slam – technically speaking – she is staying calm.
She said: “It's now my second time in the second week of a slam, so that's pretty cool.
“Except at US Open I played on the Sunday, so it didn't quite feel like a second week, and my brother said it didn't count. But, yeah, this time will be on the Monday, so that's pretty cool.”
She added: “I can definitely play better than I did on Saturday. But it's tough to play your best tennis all the time.
“What I've been working on is just accepting that I'm not going to play great tennis in every match.
“I might have a couple of good games here and there, but the majority of the time I'm just going to have to work on being super consistent.”
Kanepi, from Estonia, said: “I am aware that Laura is in all the papers, but to be honest I don’t read them so that doesn’t matter.
“I also know the fans will be behind her, but I think I'm going to enjoy that. I have that feeling before, when we play Fed Cup in Belgium.
“All they were against me. Sometimes I get more power and fighting spirit if people are against me.”
Robson v Kanepi (Monday, court one, 1pm – follow @zachmerton for regular updates)
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