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Keothavong battles past Paszek in Qatar

Anne Keothavong is riding high on confidence at present © Getty Images

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Anne Keothavong's fine run at the Qatar Total Open continued with a 7-6(4) 7-6(5) win over Tamira Paszek in the first round.

The 28-year-old toppled her fellow Brits Laura Robson and Heather Watson in qualifying and she carried the momentum into her clash with the world No. 47.

Keothavong entered the game 42 places below her opponent in the rankings but she bridged that gap with an excellent display.

Two breaks of serve apiece were traded in the opening set and Keothavong overcame a mini-break at the start of the tiebreak to get her nose in front.

Paszek responded well at the start of the second set to work two breaks of serve, but on both occasions Keothavong responded to hit back.

The Austrian broke again for 6-5 to take herself within one game of forcing a decider, but Keothavong was in no mood to be denied and broke back immediately to force a second tiebreak of the match.

The second breaker mirrored the first, with Paszek edging ahead only for Keothavong to steel herself and secure her place in the second round where she will meet the No. 4 seed Angieszka Radwanska.

Ana Ivanovic eased through, with the Serb 6-1 4-1 ahead when Carla Suarez Navarro retired due to injury.

The No. 10 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was ousted by Ksenia Perzak who rallied to claim a 1-6 6-2 6-3 success. There were no such problems for the No. 12 seed Peng Shuai who beat Fatma Al Nabhani 6-0 7-5, while Nadia Lalami suffered the embarrassment of being double bageled by Shahar Peer.

2010 Wimbledon semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova cruised past Polona Hercog 6-0 6-4, while 14th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova dumped out Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in straight sets.

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