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Tennis

Laura Robson began her quest to qualify for next week's US Open with a comfortable 7-5 6-1 victory over Stephanie Foretz.

The 15-year-old left-hander is bidding to reach the main draw at Flushing Meadows for the first time after making her grand slam debut at Wimbledon earlier this year.

Robson was handed a wild card into this week's qualifying tournament and vindicated that decision by beating Foretz, a player ranked more than 300 places higher, to set up a second-round meeting with Hungarian Aniko Kapros.

"I was so nervous at first because you're playing at the US Open and the Arthur Ashe stadium is right there," Robson said.

"I looked up and saw it and was like, 'Oh my God!' because I've watched a lot of US Open matches on TV, especially when Andy (Murray) made the final here last year.

"Actually on court it was quite relaxed so I tried to bring that to my tennis and play in a relaxed way.

"In the beginning I was a bit overwhelmed but I soon got into the match. I started to feel more comfortable and I realised that I could do it."

Elena Baltacha, the second-seeded player in the women's qualifying draw, dropped just two games as she easily progressed past Argentinian Betina Jozami 6-1 6-1 in a match that lasted exactly an hour.

The British number two, currently ranked a career-high 102, will next meet the winner of the match between Andrea Hlavackova and Yuliana Fedak - both of whom are ranked below her.

"In the beginning I was a little bit nervous," she said.

"I knew going in that I am really close to the top 100 now - and as much as I am trying not to think about the points, you can't help it.

"I knew this was a great opportunity to pick up points and I knew I had a good chance of winning, and all of that combined made me a bit nervous.

"It's fantastic to have come through, and I'm really pleased to have lost just a couple of games. Now I really think that I can push on and keep going forwards."

The news was not so good for Alex Bogdanovic, who bowed out after winning the opening set 6-3 against Alexander Peya.

Bogdanovic had his chance to close out the match in the second set tie-breaker - but after losing it 7-5, he then conceded the decisive third set to be eliminated 3-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-3.