THE cry was "Go Laura!" And Miss Robson was nearly gone.

England's rose, transplanted from Australia via Singapore, first wilted in the sun before blooming on Court No 2 on a sunny afternoon at Wimbledon. Her progress at Wimbledon continues, however, to the delight of the crowd and a besotted media.

Yet the lass born in Melbourne had to play the plucky Brit before achieving a place in the last 16 of the competition.

The 19-year-old lost the first set against Marina Erakovic in 22 minutes, before making the sort of comeback that made a household name out of Lazarus.

Erakovic, the world No 71, served for the match in the second buy eventually was beaten by Robson 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 55 minutes of scratchy but compelling tennis.

At first, Robson, the world No 38, played with a hesitancy suggesting her notorious inconsistency had revisited her. She was disturbed by the pace and accuracy of her opponent's serve and Erakovic was precisely deep on the forehand and clever on the sliced backhand.

Then something strange happened and the crowd reacted as if it had started raining Pimms and they had been looking heavenwards with mouths open. Court 1 became, well, animated. It was prompted by Erakovic serving for the match and suffering the sort of breakdown that forces the compassionate to avert their eyes and those with a medical background to advise counselling.

Erakovic became as tight as Scrooge on Christmas Eve. Serving for the match at 5-4, she lost the next eight games and, in effect, the match. Robson won to the sort of acclaim that would greet the bride at a royal wedding walking down The Mall handing out winning lottery tickets.

She is thus into the second week at Wimbledon, the first time a British woman and man have made the round of 16 since 1998.

Andy Murray has an excellent chance of winning the tournament. So what should be Robson's goals?Her defeat of Erakovic will take her into the world top 30, almost certainly making her a seed at Flushing Meadows. It also gives her a fourth-round match against Kaia Kanepi, the 28-year-old Estonian, who defeated Alison Riske of the USA.

Kanepi, the world No 46, is a veteran at Wimbledon with a habit of beating British players, defeating Heather Watson in Paris and Tara Moore at Wimbledon.

"I think I'm going to enjoy that," said Kanepi of the challenge of a partisan support. "I have had this feeling before, like when we played Fed Cup in Belgium. All were against me. Sometimes I get more power and fighting spirit if people are against me."

Kanepi, ranked a career high 15 two years ago, could pose a significant problem to Robson but the winner of the tie is scheduled to meet Serena Williams, who defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm last night, in the quarters so short-term hopes of survival at Wimbledon are slim.

But what of the long-term future? Can Robson fulfil the Williams prophecy that she is destined for the top five? Her adventures against Erakovic offer substantial promise. Robson was unsure on serve and in rallies in the early stages but, crucially, she fought her way back into the match. There is little wrong with her will but Robson can be quicker and more mobile on court. She certainly has the desire to improve.

She admits her life off court may be considered boring but this a prerequisite for the modern athlete trying to win big prizes.

Coached by Miles Maclagan, who worked with Murray, Robson played intelligently when she sensed the 25-year-old Erakovic was stumbling

"I was just kind of trying to play percentage tennis on my serve and then go for it in the rally, because she was hitting massive forehands. I focused on one point at a time rather than thinking about winning," she said. It's a cliche but that does not mean it is not smart: her strategy allowed her to survive a perilous situation on Court 1 and join such as Williams, Li Na, Sabine Lisicki, Agnieszka Radwanska, Sloane Stephens and Petra Kvitova in the second week at Wimbledon.

"I can definitely play better than I did today. But it's tough to play your best tennis all the time," said Robson. "What I've been working on is just accepting that I'm not going to play great tennis in every match - I'm just going to have to work on being super-consistent and go from there."