Spanish fightback ends Anne’s Morocco run
Keothavong goes down in three…
Anne Keothavong suffered the narrowest of defeats in the second round of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Morocco on Wednesday.
The British No.1 missed two match points in the second set before losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour clay court event in Fes.
‘There are a lot of positives I can take from this match’
Keothavong started the match strongly, hitting back from a 3-1 deficit to take the first set 6-4.
Again, the Londoner fought hard in the second set, recovering from 2-4 to stand on the brink of victory.
A place in the quarter-finals looked a certainty when she held double match point on serve with the scores at 5-4, 40-15 in the second, before the world No.96 from Barcelona staged a stunning comeback.
Dominguez Lino rattled off three games to take the second set 7-5 and dominated the final set to move into the last eight.
“It was a tough match to lose today, especially as I had match points,” Keothavong said afterwards.
“She played well and was pretty resilient throughout but there are a lot of positives I can still take from this match.
“I got myself into a winning position by being solid and patient and she actually came up with some very good backhands when match point down.
“Considering it was my first clay court tournament for a while, I’m still pleased with how I’ve played overall and I can go to Rome feeling a little more comfortable on this surface.”
Late in the day Keothavong and Hungary’s Melinda Czink lost their doubles quarter-final to top seeds Sorana Cirstea from Romania and Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 5-7, 10-7.