2012 London Olympics: Robson and Watson Both Advance as Baltacha Falls

Laura Robson safely made it through to the second round of the Olympic tennis event at Wimbledon as she secured a straight set victory over Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

The 18-year-old was also handed a place in the singles event after a withdrawal and certainly made it count as she showed plenty of composure to eventually secure a 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 win against the highly-rated world number 23.

Robson raced into an early lead as she dominated proceedings and seemed on the verge of completing an easy first set as led 5-1. However, Safarova showed a real fighting spirit and managed to level proceedings, before forcing a tie-break.

Safarova secured the first mini-break but Robson soon responded and the pair traded blows before the Brit was handed the set when a couple of unforced errors came at exactly the wrong time for the Czech.

The young British contender hit 13 winners in the first set and showed no nerves as she competes at her first Olympic Games in front of a boisterous homes crowd.

Robson then looked to secure an early break in the second set as she moved to 30-40, but Safarova managed to hold on before the Brit produced a confident service game to hold to love.

Trailing 3-4, Robson seemed to suddenly be feeling the pressure as she faced three break points. However, she showed nerves of steel to reel off five straight points before then securing a break of serve to move within one game of the match.

She then came under pressure but was able hold serve and progress to the second round where she will now face former world number one and multiple time Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova.

There was also a comfortable victory for Robson's double's partner Heather Watson who booker her place in the second round with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Silvia Soler of Spain.

Watson took both sets with ease as she dominated the serve of the Spaniard and was never really troubles on her own serve as she moved safely into the second round where she will play Maria Kirilenko of Russia.

Elena Baltacha meanwhile made potentially her last singles performance at SW19, in losing to Serbian Ana Ivanovic in straight sets in the second round.

The British No.3 claimed after her first round win over Agnes Szavay she would require ankle surgery following the Olympic competition with her continued participation in the sport under threat.