Anne Keothavong crashed out of Wimbledon at the first hurdle with a disappointing 7-5 6-2 defeat to Austrian Patricia Mayr.
British number one slumps to straight sets loss
Anne Keothavong crashed out of Wimbledon at the first hurdle with a disappointing 7-5 6-2 defeat to Austrian Patricia Mayr.
The British number one led 5-3 in the opening set but after failing to capitalise on a set point went on to lose seven games in succession and 10 of the last 12 as she capitulated against an opponent ranked 29 places below her.
She broke in the opening game and completely overpowered Mayr despite dropping her first service game, breaking again before earning set point in the ninth game.
However, she failed to take advantage and then slipped to 15-40 when serving for the set, and Mayr successfully levelled.
Keothavong soon hit back to earn break points on the Mayr serve but the Austrian dug deep once more to hold before making the Briton pay to gain the advantage.
Mayr, making her first appearance at SW19, breezed into a 3-0 lead in the second set as Keothavong found the net on far too many occasions, and although she stopped the rot in the fourth game she made no impression on her opponent's serve and it was the Austrian who broke again to seal the win.
Keothavong broke down in tears at the subsequent press conference before returning to explain her feelings.
Errors crept in
"I felt like I was on the way to winning that first set and doing what I had to do, and then it all just seemed to fall apart," said the world number 51.
"She hung in there well and the errors crept in my game. It just wasn't very good. I just feel today, when it got tight, I got tentative.
"In that second set I didn't really push her or anything. I was just pushing the ball.
"I feel like I've let myself down more than anything. Wimbledon is such a special tournament to me."
The 25-year-old admitted losing 6-0 6-0 to Dinara Safina in the first round of the French Open last month may have been more of a blow than it appeared at the time.
"I have higher expectations for myself," she continued. "I feel like I'm a better tennis player now compared to where I was this time last year.
"But maybe that match in Paris actually dented my confidence more than I realised at the time.
"Every week - Birmingham, Eastbourne, here - I've always been on the back foot. I haven't really been imposing myself or putting my opponents under enough pressure."
O'Brien misses out
Keothavong's defeat compounded the agony endured by British fans earlier in the day when Katie O'Brien and Georgie Stoop both suffered heartbreaking defeats.
British number three O'Brien dropped the first set against world number 35 Iveta Benesova but fought back to level the match and led 3-1 in the decider.
She wasted a host of chances to win the first set but stormed into a 4-0 lead in the next before being broken back twice.
However, she righted the ship to break the Czech again to level the match and was on top in the decider before question marks over her temperament re-surfaced as she was broken twice to allow Benesova to edge through 6-2 5-7 6-4 in two hours and six minutes.
Stoop had drawn level with seventh seed Vera Zvonareva when their match was suspended on Monday night, and the British number five retained her composure when play resumed.
However, the Russian - ranked 178 places above her - finally edged ahead by breaking the 21-year-old's serve in the ninth game before serving out to win 7-6 4-6 6-4.
"I'm feeling pretty down but that was a great experience for me," Stoop said. "I fought as hard as I possibly could and I thought I gave a really good performance.
"Obviously I'm a bit disappointed because obviously I would love to have won. I definitely think the experience was probably the key factor at the end of the match. She's seven in the world for a reason."
