AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 19 January-1 February
Coverage: BBC Red Button, BBC One & Two (including all Andy Murray matches), Radio 5 Live sports extra, BBC Sport website (Red Button coverage streamed on website throughout fortnight)
 Keothavong struggled in the fiercely hot conditions |
Britons Anne Keothavong, Mel South and Katie O'Brien suffered defeats in round one of the Australian Open on Monday. In scorching heat, British number one Anne Keothavong lost 6-1 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 to Russian 17th seed Anna Chakvetadze. South missed a couple of early break points before going down 6-2 6-4 to France's Marion Bartoli, and Romania's Monica Niculescu beat O'Brien 6-4 6-4. Elena Baltacha, the remaining Briton in the women's draw, is up against Anna-Lena Groenefeld on Tuesday. Keothavong, the world number 53, refused to blame a wrong umpiring decision at the start of the third set for her defeat. The 25-year-old should have served the first game as Chakvetadze served the first point of the tie-break in the previous set, but Chakvetadze served instead.  | I'm disappointed because it was a very winnable match |
"It was a bad mistake for an umpire to make in a Grand Slam, but I didn't think that was the reason why I lost the match," said Keothavong. "I felt like I was fighting my body and my opponent. I didn't have to fight the umpire too. She made a mistake but it was accepted by both of us and the match continued. "You live and learn and I do feel the more I can compete at a higher level the more I'll handle these kind of situations better. "I should have applied more pressure at the start of that third set but I didn't and she kind of got away with it. "It's a first round loss at a Slam and I had high expectations of myself. I was coming into this tournament feeling pretty good." South rued the fact her serve had not been stronger, saying: "What let me down throughout the whole match was that I got broken too many times. | 606: DEBATE |
"That 4-1 service game (in the second set) was pretty terrible. I've played her a couple of times before and I knew going out there that I could win the match today. "I knew exactly how to play her I just didn't pull it off today. I'm a little bit disappointed because I had lots of chances." O'Brien admitted that the sweltering conditions proved tough to cope with. "It was about 15 degrees warmer than it was in qualifying," she said. "I was over-hitting a little bit because the ball was flying that much more. "I think she was probably struggling more than I was because I was making her do most of the running, so that's why it's a bit of a shame I couldn't get that second set because in the third set I think I would probably have been the stronger one. "I felt I was hitting the ball well and I was opening up the court but it was just the finishing off that was the problem. "I'm disappointed because it was a very winnable match and there were a lot of opportunities I missed there."
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