Keothavong prepares for Dementieva
Briton draws world No.4 in Stanford…
Anne Keothavong has been handed a tough task in her first tournament of the American hard court swing, a first round date with Russian Elena Dementieva.
The Londoner and the world No.4 will go head to head in the first round of the 2009 Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California.
The hard court event is one of the strongest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier tournaments on the calendar and features five of the top 10 players in the women’s rankings.
Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Serena Williams, seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova, 2008 Olympic gold medalist Dementieva and former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic are all in town.
“I played against Elena at the US Open last year and I expect her to make it just as hard for me on Monday,” Anne said. “I’ll know a little more of what to expect from her after our match back then and as always, I’ll give it my best shot.
“This summer I’m planning to play doubles with Ayumi Morita from Japan. We were meant to play a few tournaments together during the clay court season but it didn’t work out due to injuries and our combined rankings not being high enough.
“The cut this week will be pretty high but we’re hoping to sneak into the draw – if we can get a few matches in together before the US Open that would be good.”
Keothavong and Morita did make the cut and take on Canadian/French pair Julie Coin and Marie-Eve Pelletier in the first round.
The Briton begins her singles campaign on Monday when she takes on Dementieva in the fourth match on Centre Court after a 10am start.
Order of Play – Monday
Stadium, from 10.00hrs
1. Oudin vs. Chan (Singles Q Final)
2. Niculescu vs. Shaughnessy (NB 11.00hrs)
3. A.Radwanska vs. Cirstea
4. Keothavong vs. Dementieva
5. Petrova vs. Mattek-Sands
6. Sharapova vs. Sugiyama (NB 19.00hrs)
7. Dekmeijere/Ditty vs. Barte/Burdette