Keothavong beats 25th seed to reach third round

BRITISH women’s No 1 Anne Keothavong caused a major shock at the US Open yesterday as she knocked out No25 seed Francesca Schiavone of Italy to reach the third round.

Keothavong, the world No87, won 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and the 24-year-old from Hackney could now face fifth seed and Olympic women’s singles champion Elena Dementieva of Russia, who was on court against France’s Pauline Parmentier.

Playing in her first grand slam outside of Wimbledon, where her best result came this year as she reached the second round, Keothavong had reached the second round with a defeat of American qualifier Alexa Glatch.

While Schiavone appeared out of sorts, Keothavong was the picture of confidence. After an enthralling battle Schiavone was left serving to save the match. She proved unable to do so, losing on a double fault to leave the Londoner celebrating a famous victory.

In the men’s singles, four-times champion Roger Federer launched his title defence with a comfortable 6-3, 6-0, 6-3 win over little-known Argentine Maximo Gonzalez in the first round late on Tuesday.