Keothavong beaten by Bondarenko
Anne’s Warsaw Open run comes to an end…
Anne Keothavong’s fine run at the $600,000 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Warsaw Open came to an end on Friday when she lost to eighth seed Alona Bondarenko in the last four.
The British No.1 struggled to find her form in the first set, falling behind 5-1 before a rain break, but pushed her opponent hard in the second before Bondarenko wrapped up a 6-2, 7-5 victory.
Bondarenko beat former world No.1 Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals and will now face Romanian qualifier Alexandra Dulgheru in the final.
“It wasn’t one of my best matches but Alona’s a tough opponent,” said Anne. “She makes you play every ball and she moves pretty well and I ended up forcing a little bit too much at times.”
Keothavong can’t afford to spend too much time thinking about the defeat as she learned on Friday that she will take on top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina of Russia in the first round of next week’s French Open.
“I can’t be all disappointed,” Keothavong added. “I have another match in Paris in a couple of days to think about.
“I’m looking forward to playing Safina, even though it’s probably the toughest draw you could ask for. She’s definitely the favourite for the title and she’s a player who’s done consistently the best this year, especially winning Rome and Madrid.
“It’s definitely a tough draw but I’ve got nothing to lose. I can go out there and take a bit of confidence from my performances this week and give it my best shot.
“It’ll be on one of the big courts and it’s my first appearance in the main draw at the French Open so I can just go out there and enjoy it.
“I don’t have too many expectations of myself but I will definitely learn a lot and enjoy it. It’s not every week that you get to play the No.1 player in the world.”
Safina, speaking in Paris earlier on Friday, said: “I do know [Anne]. Can you believe we played juniors, semi-finals Wimbledon? So I played her a long time ago. I know her pretty good. I think she’s playing some good tennis.
“I know she was in the semis in Warsaw. I guess she’s playing right now. I think she will have less days off than me, and I’m looking forward to meet her.”