THE car has gone back into the garage. Hastings Direct, the sponsor of the International Championships in Eastbourne this week, offered a new Kia Sportage, worth £20,000, as a prize to any British player who reached the quarter-finals of the competition, but the first-round exit of Anne Keothavong, the British No 1, yesterday means that the prize is to be rolled over to Wimbledon, where any British woman reaching the fourth round can drive it away from SW19.
In all likelihood, it will still be available to be awarded to the highest-ranked British woman in the world’s top 100 at the end of the season. But since Elena Baltacha, the British No 2, is out until the new year and Katie O’Brien, the British No 3, is a distant No 232 in the world rankings, the Kia could end up qualifying for the London-to-Brighton veteran run before the keys change hands.
Keothavong is Hastings Direct’s best hope for creating some forecourt space, having fought back from a knee injury in 2004 to a ranking of No 145 in the world, only five places below her best. Unfortunately, she showed little to justify her wild-card entry into the main draw here, subsiding 6-1, 6-3 to Vera Dushevina, of Russia, the world No 40. Opportunities came and went, six break points going unconverted in one game.
“I could have been braver,” Keothavong said. “I’m a baseliner, but I need to be more aggressive. It works up to a certain level, but against the top players you can’t afford to make as many errors as I did.”
Roger Draper, the new chief executive of the LTA, has said that he intends to give more attention to British women, but Keothavong sounded unimpressed. Despite her status as the best Britain has to offer, she has yet to be asked for her input. “I’m sure we all have our thoughts and he knows where we are,” she said.
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The top three players in the world, Amélie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin-Hardenne, play their first matches in the competition today. It is only the third time that the world’s top three have appeared in Eastbourne and the first time since 2001 that a women-only tournament anywhere in the world has attracted the top three.