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On this day: Laura Robson makes WTA debut at 14

Five years ago today, Great Britain's Laura Robson made her WTA debut against Iveta Benesova in Luxembourg.

Fans of British tennis have not had too many reasons to be excited in recent years.

So, when a 14-year-old Laura Robson won the junior Wimbledon title in 2008, having defeated the likes of top seed Melanie Oudin along the way, people started to stand up and take notice.

From there, Australia-born Robson entered the ITF senior tour, where she continued to impress.

It meant that by the time that the 2008 WTA Fortis Championships in Luxembourg City got underway on this very day, the young Brit was handed a wildcard to compete.

She was drawn against the Czech Republic's Iveta Benesova in the opening round - a 25-year-old ranked number 42 in the world who had turned professional a decade earlier.

Many had expected Benesova to record a routine victory, but they had not banked on the talent and spirit at Robson's disposal. She broke her more experienced opponent at the second time of asking and went on to claim the opening set 6-1

It appeared that she would go on to record a famous win, but midway through the second set Benesova converted a break of the Robson serve for the first time and from that moment on she took control of the contest.

The Czech won the second set 6-2 to force a decider, which she then wrapped up 6-3 in one hour and 22 minutes.

The defeated Robson returned to the ITF circuit soon after and she went on to win her first title before the year was out, overcoming fellow Britons Tara Moore and Samantha Vickers in Sunderland. At that point, she was still three months short of her 15th birthday.

Today, Robson, now 19, is Britain's highest-ranked woman, having reached the fourth round of both Wimbledon and the US Open.

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