Anne Keothavong plonks Kristyna Pliskova to round off the last four – AEGON Trophy 2012 CH
World number 81, Anne Keothavong, ended the sublime run of the 20-year-old Czech booming starlet, Kristyna Pliskova, in the quarter-finals of the AEGON Trophy on Friday. She clasped the semi-final berth after a gruelling three-setter
with final scores of 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
It was a great turnaround from the 28-year-old Briton who has failed to fulfil her career long dream of entering the singles category of London Olympics. She can’t end up in the Top-64 players before June 11, 2012 and that is heartbreaking
news for someone who wished to play in one of the biggest event in the history of sports at her home soil.
However, she has raced into the last four stage of the challenger tournament played in Nottingham. She started the match against Pliskova with a serve hold but went down early in the set that gave a tremendous start to the Czech
diva. Pliskova was never tested on her serves; no breakthrough opportunities were created by the eighth seed Briton and it seemed like she will face yet another disappointing loss after a promising start to the tournament.
However, the Briton fought back into the contest with a breakthrough in the fourth game of the second set and took a lead of 3-1. She clasped another breakthrough in the sixth game that allotted her a lead of 5-1. Obviously, there
was no coming back from that point for the Czech who looked completely out of touch in the second part.
Final set was played with utmost caution by both players. First four games passed by without a single breakthrough opportunity for both players but the disappointing news for the Czech arrived in the following game when she failed
to save the first breakpoint of the set.
Keothavong lost just a single point on her following three serve games and clubbed the win that booked her a spot in the final four of the tournament. Up next for the Briton is the American qualifier, Coco Vandeweghe, who has stunned
everyone to reach this far in the tournament. So, there is no doubt that she can repeat a similar performance and upset the Briton to reach the final.
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