Bammer ends Keothavong hopes
Austrian into round two in Eastbourne…
Talented Austrian Sybille Bammer produced a polished performance to beat Britain’s Anne Keothavong in the first round in Eastbourne on Tuesday evening.
The world No.28 from Linz rose to the occasion against the British No.1 to move through to the second round of the AEGON International with a 6-3, 6-2 victory in an hour and 20 minutes.
Her reward is a second round meeting with Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues.
Bammer, 29, broke four times – twice in each set – and lost her serve just once, largely thanks to a 77% first serve success rate.
Afterwards Keothavong said she was disappointed with her performance.
“I expected her to be a tough opponent and today I didn’t give myself a chance,” the world No.49 said afterwards.
“I was spraying balls about and she just had to put the ball in the court.
“Sometimes I can put too much pressure on myself. I know I’m capable of beating players like Sybille and today it just wasn’t happening for me.
“I expect more from myself, I want to perform well and not let people who support me down.”
The Londoner is back in action on Wednesday when she teams up with Sarah Borwell in the quarter-finals of the doubles.
They take on Akgul Amanmuradova and Ai Sugiyama in the last match on Court 1 for a place in the semis of the $600,000 tournament.