• AEGON Classic

Tearful Baltacha hands opponent walkover

ESPN staff
June 9, 2010
Elena Baltacha was suffering from heatstroke © Getty Images
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Elena Baltacha was forced to retire from her opening round match at the AEGON Classic in Birmingham.

The British No. 1, who won the AEGON Trophy in Nottingham last week, was suffering with heatstroke, but after rain delayed her first-round match against Kaia Kanepi on Tuesday, Baltacha was confident of recovering in time.

But after losing the opening set 6-1, a tearful Baltacha handed her Estonian opponent the walkover. Kanepi will now meet Australia's Jarmila Groth in the second round.

Anne Keothavong produced a strong service performance to battle back from one set down to overcome Pauline Parmentier 4-6 7-5 7-5.

World No. 158 Keothavong, who this week bemoaned the amount of pressure British players were put under when performing on home soil, maintained her composure despite the odd struggle in the first set.

Although she will need to work on her return of serve if she is to progress past the second round at Wimbledon for the first time, it was an impressive performance both technically and mentally from Keothavong - and one that augurs well for her chances at the All England Club.

In the best of the second round at the Edgbaston Priory Club , Alla Kudryavtseva knocked out No. 16 seed Vania King 6-1 6-2, while fifth seed Sara Errani progressed past American Shenay Perry in three sets. Sesil Karatantcheva produced the shock of the day as she took out No. 6 seed Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4 6-4.

There were also second-round wins for Magdalena Rybarikova, Anna Chakvetadze and Angelique Kerber.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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