Govortsova up first for Anne
British No.1 ready for Indian Wells opener…
The draw for the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open has been made and British No.1 Anne Keothavong will face Olga Govortsova in her opening match on Wednesday.
Read Anne’s first blog from Indian Wells
It will be the first time the Londoner will play the main draw at the Indian Wells WTA Tour Premier event and the second time she has faced Govortsova.
They face off on court 4 in the second match of the day after an 11am start local time. The winner will face 28th seed Peng Shuai from China in the second round.
Just seven places separate Govortsova and Keothavong in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, the Belarussian is 58 to Keothavong’s current listing of No.51.
The 25-year-old from Middlesex will go into the first round clash, which will take place on either Wednesday or Thursday, having won their only encounter.
Keothavong enjoyed a comfortable 6-2, 6-0 victory over the 20-year-old from Minsk on indoor carpet in Poland back in 2006.
Govortsova has had a mixed year so far. She reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane, the second round in Hobart, but lost in round one at the Aussie Open and in Dubai.
Keothavong and Govortsova are in the same quarter as top seed Dinara Safina, who heads the 96-player draw. The Russian is a potential third round opponent for the Briton.
Serb Jelena Jankovic is the second seed, with Russians Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva the third and fourth seeds respectively.
Check out the draw on the WTA Tour website.