Showing posts with label annekeothavong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label annekeothavong. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 February 2012

GB FedCup Team Draw Sweden


Great Britain will travel to Sweden in April's World Group II play-offs after missing out on a home draw.

Captain Judy Murray led the team of Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong, Heather Watson and Laura Robson through Euro/Africa Zone Group I two weeks ago.

Their reward is a trip to Sweden, seeded third of the four possible opponents for Britain, on 21-22 April.

The winners will earn promotion into World Group II - the second tier of the Fed Cup.

Sweden have two top-100 players in Johanna Larsson (62) and Sofia Arvidsson (74), but no-one else inside the world's top 500, while Baltacha (61) and Keothavong (89) are top-100 players, with Watson (109) and Robson (120) close behind.

In five previous meetings between the nations, Britain lead 3-2 overall, but Sweden have won on the last two occasions in 2007 and 2001.

Britain's women last played a home tie in 1993, when the team of Clare Wood, Julie Salmon, Monique Javer and Amanda Grunfeld defeated Turkey 3-0 in Nottingham.

For the last eight years they have competed in the gruelling Euro/Africa Zone Group I - a 15-team event played in a single location over four days with only two qualifying spots.

Victories over Portugal, Netherlands, hosts Israel and Austria in Eilat earlier this month gave Murray the perfect start to her Fed Cup captaincy.

Speaking afterwards, she told BBC Sport: "There are obviously some that we would rather play than others. I hope we get a home tie but I won't be too worried about the draw."




Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Keothavong Wins in Pattaya



Anne Keothavong has beaten the world number 16 Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the Pattaya Open.

Britain's number two Keothavong, ranked 88 in the world, won 6-4 6-1 in an hour and 22 minutes against the tournament's number two seed.

She will now play either Sania Mirza or Japan's Ayumi Morita in the next round.

Fellow Brits Heather Watson and Laura Robson both went out in the first round of the outdoor hard court tournament in Thailand on Tuesday.

Guernsey teenager Watson lost 6-4 6-2 against America's world number 59 Vania King whilst Laura Robson retired 5-2 down against Uzbekistan's Akgul Amanmuradova with an apparent back strain.

Watson also suffered first-round defeats at Hobart and the Australian Open as she searches for a first WTA Tour win this year.

A solitary break gave King the first set and two more in the second set saw her win in one hour and 30 minutes.

Robson retired in the first set against Amanmuradova.

The disappointiment for Watson and Robson comes after Britain beat Austria 2-0 on Saturday to secure a World Group II play-off in April.