Rus ties record for consecutive defeats

Holland’s Arantxa Rus made unwanted history at Wimbledon today as she tied the record for consecutive losses on the women’s tour with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat against Olga Puchkova.

Rus’s 17th straight loss equalled the WTA mark set by Sandy Collins between 1984 and 1987 and left her still waiting for her first victory since beating Romina Oprandi in Dallas in August last year.

The 22-year-old left-hander has managed to take a set in only two of her 13 defeats this year, a futile sequence stretching across the globe from Miami to Marrakech and Melbourne.

Asked if she could put her finger on the reason for her disastrous run, Rus said: “In the beginning of the year I was not serving good. It’s hard if you give a lot of points away.

“In the last month I played better tennis, but you need to play very good to win matches at this level.

“I try my best but this year is not a good year for me. I lost a lot of matches.

“There were a few matches I had chances to win, set-points and opportunities.

“It’s hard, but I try to keep working hard, that’s the only thing I can do.”

Rus hasn’t always struggled so badly. She defeated second seed Kim Clijsters at the 2011 French Open and reached the last 16 at Roland Garros 12 months later.

Last year she claimed a surprise victory over former US Open champion Sam Stosur at Wimbledon.

But since then her career has gone into free-fall, with her only three victories in 2013 all coming on at lower-tier ITF events.

Many players would have been crushed by such a dispiriting run and let it affect their personal life, but Rus has remained upbeat.

“I’m still the same person. You have also another life than tennis. It’s your work,” she said.

“It’s hard because all the people around you are negative. So it’s good that I have a good coach to work with. My family helps me also. That’s good.”

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