Rare Birmingham win for Keothavong

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:33

The 11th seed, who has not been particularly successful on the grass at Edgbaston, dropped her serve in the very first game and then saved two break points to avoid going 3-0 down.

From that point she battled back to break her Swedish opponent three times to claim the opening set in 29 minutes.

The 25-year-old twice found herself under pressure on her own serve in the second set – saving three break points in her first service game and two in the third.

However, once she had broken Arvidsson, 100 places below her in the world rankings, to go 4-2 up the result was not in doubt and another service break confirmed the win in just over an hour.

Keothavong, who in February became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1993 to break into the world’s top 50, had lost four of her previous six meetings – all on hard courts – with the world number 149.

Her record at Edgbaston is even poorer, with her seven previous visits producing only one victory and none since 2004.

Keothavong now plays 22-year-old Indian sensation Sania Mirza in the second round after the world number 98 dispatched Belarus’ Tatiana Poutchek 6-1 6-2.

Hungary’s Melinda Czink, the 16th seed, was a 6-4 6-3 winner over Spain’s Arantxa Parra Santonja.

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