the first time a British woman had entered Wimbledon on merit since 1999. She then fell in the first round of qualifying for the French Open before reaching another $50k final (in Surbiton). In the run up to Wimbledon, Keothavong lost in the first round of the Birmingham Classic to Kateryna Bondarenko and in the first round of the Rosmalen Open to Sara Errani. In her first-round match in Wimbledon, she faced American, Vania King, and lost the first set. She regrouped during a toilet break at the end of the first set and came back to win the match in three sets despite being 2–0 down in the deciding set. She then lost to the eventual champion, Venus Williams, in the second round. After Wimbledon, Keothavong made a successful start to her American hardcourt season by winning three matches to qualify for the Tier II event in Stanford. She then defeated Sania Mirza in the first round before giving Marion Bartoli a tough time in round two in a match which she eventually lost in three tight sets. In August she entered the US Open for the first time in her career and faced Alexa Glatch in round one. She won the match and then went on to beat Francesca Schiavone in the second round in three sets. However No. 5 seed, Elena Dementieva, proved too much for Keothavong in the third round; Keothavong lost. After the US Open, Keothavong won two more ITF events: Barnstaple ($50k) and Kraków ($100k) and as a result, her year-end ranking was world No. 61. 2009 Keothavong began her 2009 season by launching her official website before heading to Auckland where she reached the semifinals. En route, she defeated Mirjana Lučić, No. 8 seed Carla Suárez Navarro and Ayumi Morita before falling in a three-hour, three set battle to Elena Vesnina. This was only the second time in her career that she reached the semifinals of a WTA Tour event. Keothavong then competed in the Hobart International where she faced a tough draw in round one against world No. 25, Ágnes Szávay. Nevertheless, Keothavong came through without too much difficulty, beating Szávay in two sets. She lost to Virginie Razzano in the second round. Keothavong then headed to the main draw of the Australian Open for the first time in her career where she came up against Anna Chakvetadze, who was the 17th