Keothavong bows out of AEGON Classic

ANNE Keothavong has crashed out of the AEGON Classic in straight sets to India's world number 98 Sania Mirza 6-1, 7-6.

EARLY EXIT: Anne Keothavong bows out of AEGON Classic in Edgbaston in secound round

The British number one was broken three times as Mirza, who was ranked as high as 27 in the world in 2007, eased into a one-set led.

Keothavong, who broke into the top 50 in the world for the first time in February, bounced back in the second set and force nine break points, but could fina way through.

Mirza held firm and kept her nerve in the second-set tie-break to take it 7-5 and book her place in the third round, where she will face either Britain's Elena Baltacha or Russia's number five seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

And Keothavong admitted there is plenty of work to do before she gets to the All England Club later this month.

"I didn't expect to play my best tennis this week. It was my first grass court tennis of the season," she said. "I got off to a bad start and I was feeling pretty flat but I had my chances in the third set- I just didn't take them.

"Sania is a quality opponent and she is very dangerous when she gets a clean strike on the ball.

"I got a bit passive and was too far back behind the base line- I was playing clay court tennis on instead of grass court.

"Unfortunately you can't guarantee a good performance every day and there are plenty of things for me to work on before Eastbourne and Wimbledon."

Number three seed Aleksandra Wozniak progressed to the next stage following a 6-4 6-4 victory over Belarussian Olga Govortsova.

However, Switzerland's Stefanie Voegele ended sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova's campaign with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 win in a match that lasted just over two hours.

Leading life assurance and pensions company AEGON is lead partner of British Tennis and is backing the sport at all levels, from grass roots to world class tennis events. For tickets and further information visit www.lta.org.uk