Mirza muscles past Keothavong
Indian into round three…
Anne Keothavong’s singles campaign at the AEGON Classic ended in the second round on Wednesday when she lost in straight sets to Indian Sania Mirza.
The 25-year-old Londoner made a poor start on the intimate Edgbaston Priory Club’s Centre Court and despite a second-set fightback lost 6-1, 7-6(5) in just under an hour and a half.
It was all Mirza in the early stages as the world No.98 raced through the opening set in under half an hour, breaking three times along the way.
The tide turned early in the second when 11th seed Keothavong finally took the Mirza serve on her eighth break point inside two games to go ahead 2-1, a lead she quickly turned into 5-1.
But as the Briton stood on the brink of forcing a third set Mirza staged a remarkable revival thanks to some heavy hitting and aggressive play.
Some of her winners were hit with such force it was hard to believe that only a few months ago a severe wrist injury meant she was barely able to lift a fork, let alone a racket.
The right-hander from Mumbai rattled off five games in a row to lead 6-5 before Keothavong stopped the rot to force a tie-break.
Although the court was only about half-full, as the set drew to a close the atmosphere was electric – you could have heard a pin drop on the grass.
Ultimately, there was disappointment in store for Keothavong’s fans, however, as Mirza quickly opened up a lead in the tie-break to hold two match points at 6-4.
She missed the first but made no mistake on her second to book a place in round three against either Elena Baltacha or fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
“I didn’t expect to a play my best tennis at this tournament because it’s my first grass court tournament,” Keothavong said afterwards.
“I got off to a slow start and I was pretty flat. I had my chances in the second set but I didn’t close it out.
“Sania’s a quality opponent and she’s dangerous when she gets a good strike on the ball. I was a bit passive and I was too far behind the baseline at times – I was playing a bit of clay-court tennis instead of grass-court tennis.
“You can’t guarantee a good performance every day unfortunately and there are plenty of things for me to work on before Eastbourne and Wimbledon.”
Keothavong will now focus on the doubles at the $220,000 event. For the second day running rain stopped her and partner Sarah Borwell from getting their campaign under way, however.
They will try again on Thursday when they take on Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yung-Jan and China’s Yan Zi in the first round.