Elena Baltacha: Only Hope for Britain's Ladies at Australian Open

It’s exciting times for British tennis as it appears Britain is on the verge of having its first Grand Slam winner in 72 years, as current World No.4 Andy Murray goes into the first major of the year as favourite.

It is indeed exciting times for tennis in Britain, men’s tennis that is. On the ladies’ side however, things don’t look quite so bright.

That’s because three of the four British women’s tennis representatives at the Australian Open crashed out of the competition, on the very first day of the tournament.

Britain’s female No.1 Anne Keothavong was unable to overcome a tricky tie against 17th seed Anna Chakvetadze, the Russian victorious in a hard fought three set battle, 6-1 6-7 (7-4) 6-1.

Melanie South had an even tougher tie; she was playing 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli. Such a tough tie it was for South, she was beaten comprehensively in straight sets, 6-2 6-4.

Katie O’Brien also crashed out, losing to Romania’s Monice Niculescu. This means Elena Baltacha, the British No.3 of Ukrainian parentage, is the only hope female British tennis has left at the Australian Open. She plays against the German Anna-Lena Groenefeld tomorrow.

Keothavong, seen as a rising star in British tennis despite being 25-years old, held her serve throughout the first set of her match against Chakvetadze. Although having reached a career high of 53 in the world rankings, and stating the hard court is her preferred surface, she was powerless as World No. 18 Chakvetadze dominated the remainder of the set.

In the second set, Keothavong was made to pay for her mistake of drinking too much to counter-act her dehydration prior to the game, as she had to call for the trainer as she felt bloated. Despite this set-back, she responded well and forced a tie-break, eventually beating the Russian 7-4.

The third set wasn’t quite so good for Keothavong, as she lost the first five games before finally managing to register one of her own on the scoreboard. Anna Chakvetadze then served out to win the match.

Perhaps Britain’s No.1 can feel hard done by, as a shambles of an umpiring decision meant Chakvetadze served the first game of the third set instead of Keothavong, winning the first of a large run of games. Keothavong was actually meant to serve, as Chakvetadze served the first point of the tie-break in the previous set.

However, one of the qualities that makes the best current female tennis player in Britain so likeable, is that she is always down to earth and honest, despite when things really seem to go against her.

She said of the umpire’s decision: “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.”

“You live and learn and I do feel the more I can compete at a higher level the more I'll handle these kinds 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. The match didn't go the way I would like but I'm sitting here and there's nothing I can do about the result.”

The result means Elena Baltacha will have to go it alone tomorrow, as she takes on Anna-Lena Groenefeld in an attempt to keep alive female British tennis in the biggest tournament of the Southern Hemisphere.