Morgan Lightbourne almost discovered too late that lack of preparation in major sporting events can prove disastrous. The Ladies B Divison top seed had to come from a set down to defeat her 13-year-old opponent, Caitlin Gordon 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in first round action of the 2004 Heineken Open yesterday at the W.E.R. Joell Tennis Stadium.

The Fed Cup player admitted that ?I just lost it during the first set.

?Caitlin is a consistent player and I really wasn?t into the match during the early going,? she said. ?But after losing that first set I said to myself that I had to get with it or I would be watching the rest of this tournament from the sidelines and I wasn?t prepared to do that so early.?

After going down 5-2, Lightbourne showed glimpses of her real ability by breaking her opponent at 15 in the eighth game and when she held at love in the ninth game to trail 4-5, the gallery was expecting a total recovery. But that wasn?t to be as her 13-year-old opponent bucked down and ran off four straight winners to take the first set 6-4.

Lightbourne took control with a barrage of sizzling winners to all parts of the court, and just when it appeared as if Gordon was getting her stroke play down, Lightbourne crossed her up with a couple of deft drop shots.

Unable to find an answer to her opponents game, young Gordon couldn?t sustain the momentum of the first set and lost the final two sets in less than 30 minutes, going down 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, trailing in that final set 40-love before she was able to hold her first serve in the fifth game.