Marina Erakovic's chances of earning Olympic selection have suffered a major blow after losing in the first round at the French Open this morning, but she remains hopeful the New Zealand Olympic Committee will still take her.
The 24-year-world No 42 was beaten 7-5 7-5 by 95th-ranked Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino. Erakovic has made it past the first round just once at Roland Garros, back in 2008.
The NZOC, who require athletes to demonstrate an ability to finish inside the top 16, were waiting to see how Erakovic performed at the French Open before making a decision on whether she should go to the Olympics. A first-round exit here following last week's early loss in Strasbourg and a second-round finish in Rome won't have helped her cause.
Erakovic certainly had her chances today but blew a promising start when she led 5-3 in the first set. She had used her powerful forehand to good effect but, with the set within her grasp, let it slip with a poor service game and the momentum changed.
Dominguez Lino was content to defend throughout. The former French Open junior champion offered nothing in the way of attacking tennis but, inevitably, it was Erakovic who made the vital errors. The statistics tell a large part of the story with Erakovic committing 49 unforced errors to the Spaniard's 12.