Keothavong crashes out in first qualifying round but Konta marches on

Published: 01:25 EST, 10 January 2013 | Updated: 01:25 EST, 10 January 2013

British No 3 Anne Keothavong crashed out of the Australian Open qualifying rounds at the first hurdle of the after she was beaten 7-5, 7-5 by American Grace Min.

Keothavong, who produced seven unforced errors in the encounter, was 5-2 ahead in the second set and on course to level the match.

However the Briton fell apart as her opponent, ranked 178th in the world, won five straight games to progress to the second round.

Despair: Anne Keothavong loses to Grace Min in the qualifing event at Melbourne Park

Despair: Anne Keothavong loses to Grace Min in the qualifing event at Melbourne Park

But there was some good news as Johanna Konta made it through to the second round of qualifying after surviving a tough encounter against Anastasia Sevastova.

Konta - ranked 153 - progressed after winning 6-3, 6-7 (10/8), 6-4 to beat the world number 179 in a draining encounter which lasted over two and a half hours.

Konta will face Yi-Miao Zhou of China who beat the 11th seed Eva Birnerova.