Robson's talent shines despite debut defeat

Laura Robson's debut on the Women's Tennis Association tour ended in defeat yesterday, but there were plenty of positives for the 14-year-old junior Wimbledon champion to take from her appearance at the Fortis Championships in Luxembourg. After a bright start Robson was beaten 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 by the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova, who at No 42 in the world is the highest ranked player Robson has met in her four senior appearances.

Robson broke Benesova immediately and made short work of the first set, but the momentum swung after Benesova broke in the fourth game of the second. In the doubles Robson partners Argentina's Gisela Dulko this afternoon against the No 3 seeds, Vera Dushevina and Mariya Koryttseva.

"I started off really well and then the second set maybe didn't go as well as I had planned, and she started playing better as well," Robson said. "Even if I lose in doubles I will still stick around and watch all the other girls practise – how they handle everything, what kind of things they are working on and what things I can take from them."

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Elsewhere, Jamie Murray and his Swedish doubles partner Robert Lindstedt advanced to the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon after a 6-0, 7-6 victory over the fourth-seeded Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa. It was Murray's first ATP Tour victory since Cincinnati in July and follows his split from Max Mirnyi last month.

Murray and Lindstedt will face the French pairing of Thierry Ascione and Marc Gicquel in the last eight.

* Paul Hutchins is to leave his role as the Lawn Tennis Association's head of men's tennis at the end of this year. His responsibilities will be shared in future by Steve Martens, the LTA's player director, Paul Annacone, Tim Henman's former coach, and Leon Smith, who coached Andy Murray as a junior.