Keothavong loses Memphis semi
• Keothavong beaten 6-4 4-6 6-4 by Arvidsson in Cellular South Cup • British number three optimistic for season ahead
Anne Keothavong failed to reach her first WTA Tour final on Friday as she went down in three sets to Sofia Arvidsson in the Cellular South Cup in Memphis.
The Swedish qualifier triumphed 6-4 4-6 6-4 to condemn the 26-year-old Londoner to defeat in the semi-finals of this tournament for the second consecutive year.
This was the British number three’s first tournament after six months out with a knee injury. She told her website: “Sofia was the more consistent player but I felt like the more aggressive and powerful player except I wasn’t able to string my good stuff together for long enough at a time.
“The fire is still there. I fought my hardest and I’m only going to get better the more I play from now.
“There’s been a lot of tennis this month and I need to allow some time for my body to recover again. There’s a lot I can build on and that’s exciting for the rest of the year.”
British number one Elena Baltacha bowed out of the competition on Thursday, losing 6-2 7-5 to top seed Maria Sharapova in the quarter-finals.
British No3 Anne Keothavong eases past Kristina Barrois in Memphis
• Anne Keothavong beats German 6-1, 6-3
• Maria Sharapova wins first match since Australian Open failure
The British No3 Anne Keothavong advanced to the second round of the Cellular South Cup in Memphis with a straight-sets victory over the No6 seed Kristina Barrois.
The 26-year-old Londoner, playing only her second tournament after a six-month lay-off with a knee injury, overcame her German opponent 6-1, 6‑3 to set up a second-round clash with the Portuguese teenager Michelle Larcher de Brito.
Britain’s No1 Elena Baltacha, 70th in the world rankings after winning the ITF Dow Corning Classic in Michigan on Sunday, is seeded No8 in Memphis and will take on the Czech Republic’s Renata Voracova in the first round. The British No2 Katie O’Brien was eliminated on Sunday, going down 6‑2, 6‑1 to the American wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
The No1 seed Maria Sharapova, meanwhile, progressed to the second round after she beat the American Shenay Perry 6-0, 6-2 yesterday, winning her first match since she was knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open.
Sharapova used her strength to move Perry around the court, advancing in less than an hour. “I thought I was very aggressive,” the Russian said. “To play every point with a strong mentality in every match; it’s impossible to keep going up, up, up and hit a winner on every single ball. So, when I did feel like I maybe missed a few, I still was going for it. I wasn’t tentative.”
In the men’s side of the tournament the No3 seed Radek Stepanek advanced with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 victory over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson, while the No6 seed John Isner beat a 17-year-old qualifier and fellow American Ryan Harrison 6-1, 7-5. Taylor Dent, who won the tournament in 2003, lost to Germany’s Philipp Petzschner 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.