Anne falls to Chakvetadze in Melbourne
Russian sees off Keothavong in three sets…
Anne Keothavong lost a three-set battle with Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
The British No.1 put up a brave fight before going down 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 to the 17th seed on court three at Melbourne Park.
Chakvetadze, who has been ranked as high as No.5 in the world, started the more consistent of the two players, racing away with the first set in 27 minutes.
Things were much tougher for the world No.18 in the second set though as Keothavong cut out her unforced errors and found a higher percentage of first serves.
Despite needing treatment for an upset stomach, the 25-year-old Londoner stuck with the Russian and forced a tie-break which she won 7-4 to take the match into a decider.
The final set began with a bizarre turn of events when Chakvetadze wrongly served first, a mistake neither player nor the umpire noticed until the first change of ends.
Play resumed as normal and just as she’d done in the first set, Chakvetadze began the third strongly, quickly racing into a 5-0 lead before wrapping up the match in 2 hours and 18 minutes.
“I’ve improved my game a lot but there’s still a lot for me to learn at this level,” Keothavong said. “The more I can compete at this level the more I will learn.
“It was a bad mistake for an umpire to make in a grand slam, but I don’t think that was the reason I lost the match,’‘ Keothavong said of the umpiring muddle at the start of the third set.
“I felt like I was fighting my body and my opponent. I didn’t have to fight the umpire too. She made a mistake but it was accepted by both of us and the match continued.
“You live and learn and I do feel the more I can compete at a higher level the more I’ll handle these kind of situations better.”
Chakvetadze goes through to play Aussie Jelena Dokic who beat Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-4 in the decider.
Keothavong will now focus on the women’s doubles. The Briton will team up with Croatian Mervana Jugic-Salkic against Aussie pairing Sophie Ferguson and Jessica Moore in round one.