In blustery conditions Britiain’s number two Anne Keothavong, was blown away by Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, in the second round of the Qatar Open.
Anne came into the contest in fine form, having worked her way through qualifying, beating two fellow Brits, and then taking out Tamira Paszek of Austria, in the first round.
But after many unforced errors and failing to adapt to the windy conditions, she lost 6-1, 6-2 with just over an hour of play.
Anne looked nervous early on in the match and dropped her opening service game to love - which set the tone for the remainder of the match. Radwanska’s love hold for 3-0 saw her take 12 of the first 13 points.
Keothavong got on the board with a hold in the sixth game however, but a booming forehand on her third set point secured the opening set for Radwanska 6-1.
Not much changed in the second set, Radwanska broke serve at the start and took a quick 5-0 lead. Keothavong did however show some sparks of brilliance at this point, her groundstrokes were touching the lines and Radwanska appeared to have no answer for them. Anne took the next two games to add a slight bit of pressure but Radwanska finally won the set 6-2.
Afterwards British Tennis tweeted, “Hard luck Anne. You did so well to get this far.”
Lizzie Flint, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
