Anne Keothavong got Great Britain off to a flying start in their Fed Cup campaign on Thursday. The current British number four, playing in her 39th Fed Cup tie, saw off Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Dea Herdzelas 6-4 6-2 in Eilat to put GB 1-0 up in the best-of-three contest. After service breaks were traded in the opening two games, Keothavong edged ahead in a tight first set and served out at 5-4 despite falling 0-30 down. The second set proved more comfortable for the 29-year-old with breaks in games three and seven seeing her ease to a straight-sets victory. Keothavong is now in second place in GB’s all-time appearance list in the competition, with only Virginia Wade having represented her country in more Fed Cup ties. British number one Heather Watson will now seek to seal victory for Judy Murray’s team in the second singles rubber against Anita Husaric. GB, whose opening tie had been held over from Wednesday due to rain, are looking to become one of two teams who will progress from the Europe/Africa Zone Group I matches in Israel, as they did last year. They will need to finish top of Group B, which also features Portugal and Hungary, and then win a play-off to do so.
