Keothavong safely through
Anne eases past Arvidsson…
Anne Keothavong enjoyed the perfect start to her grass court season with a comprehensive first round victory at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham on Tuesday afternoon.
The British No.1 and world No.49 hit back after a slow start to outclass Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour on the Edgbaston Priory Club’s Centre Court.
The 25-year-old Londoner, who is seeded 11 at the $220,000 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event, goes on to play India’s Sania Mirza in the second round.
Mirza was equally impressive during her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Belarussian Tatiana Poutchek earlier on day two.
After the first couple of games of her contest against world No.149 Arvidsson, it looked like Keothavong would be made to work hard to secure her passage into the last 32.
The Scandinavian made the perfect start as she raced into a 2-0 lead only for Keothavong to take the next six games.
After splitting the first four games of the second set, Keothavong went on another winning run to wrap the match up.
“I was a little bit nervous at the start as it was my first match on grass, so it took me a while to get into it,” Keothavong said afterwards.
“I’ve got more confidence in myself now. Breaking into the top 100 was huge for my confidence and breaking into the top 50 was even harder, but it’s great for your belief.
“I love coming back here to the AEGON Classic as the crowd here in Birmingham always get behind me.
“It’s great to be seeded here for the first time too. To be seeded and hopefully one of the title contenders is great.”
Keothavong’s scheduled first round doubles with Sarah Borwell against Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yung-Jan and China’s Yan Zi was postponed until Wednesday because of rain.
The Englishwoman will have a busy day as she first has her second round singles against Mirza, which is the second match on Centre Court.
Wednesday order of play
Centre Court (from 11.00hrs)
1. Kudryavtseva vs. Broady (tbc)
2. Keothavong vs. Mirza
3. Sharapova vs. Glatch
4. Zheng vs. South
5. Baltacha vs. Pavlyuchenkova
6. Black/Huber vs. Errani/Kirilenko