Keothavong hits new ranking high
Originally published on: 26/02/10 15:27
Anne Keothavong has been rewarded with a new career-high world ranking today after making a fantastic start to 2009.
The 25-year-old climbed four places to No.48 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings after reaching the semi-finals in Memphis last week.
The Londoner has reached two WTA Tour semi-finals already in 2009 at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, in January and last week in Tennessee.
Keothavongs listing of 48 makes her the first British woman to crack the top 50 since Jo Durie in March 1993. She has climbed 13 places this year since ending 2008 at No.61.
“There haven’t been too many British women who have been able to achieve that,” Anne told the BBC Sport website.
“It’s another indication of how much I’ve improved when you look at where I was ranked 12 months ago.
“There’s still a lot more work to do as I want to climb further up the rankings and pick up a WTA Tour title somewhere this year.
“There have been times when I’ve questioned whether I should move on and do something different but I never stopped loving tennis and I was willing to try something different which paid off for me.”
The Englishwoman is now back in London where shell spend the next couple of weeks training before travelling to the US for back-to-back Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier events in Indian Wells and Miami.
Her next tournament, the BNP Paribas Open, kicks off in Indian Wells, California, on March 11. “It’ll be my first time in the main draw of these events and I’ll just be taking it one match at a time when I’m out there,” she added.
“The standard of the top players is very high and intense but that doesn’t scare me, it just makes me want to be even better so I can play like them.”
Keothavong has also recently confirmed her schedule up to the end of Wimbledon.
After Miami, the British No.1 will play a $100,000 ITF event in Torhout, Belgium, followed by the $220,000 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event in Fes, Morocco.
She will then play either the Rome or Estoril WTA Tour events, then compete in Madrid, and then end her French Open preparations in either Warsaw or Strasbourg.
After that, the Middlesex right-hander will move onto Roland Garros to make her main draw debut at the French Open.
After the clay court swing is over, she will begin her grass court season in Edgbaston, Birmingham, before moving onto Eastbourne and then Wimbledon.
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