Anne won't lay blame as Brits tumble

Three British women were knocked out today but Anne Keothavong refused to blame a major umpiring mistake for her early exit, writes Chris Jones.

Defeats for Melanie South and Katie O'Brien mean Britain's sole survivor is qualifier Elena Baltacha, who plays tomorrow.

Keothavong lost 6-1, 6-7, 6-1 to 17th seed Anna Chakvetadze after Polish umpire Gabriella Zaloga got the order of serving wrong in the deciding set by allowing the Russian to go first.

However, world No53 Keothavong said: "The umpire made a mistake but it didn't affect the result."

South wasted a chance to claim the biggest win of her career against 16th seed Marion Bartoli, of France, losing 6-2, 6-4 and O'Brien went down 6-4, 6-4 to Romania's Monica Niculescu.

Meanwhile, the near 100˚F on court temperatures got to some of the players today, with world No1 Jelena Jankovic joking that shoe manufacturers should introduce an air-conditioning system to help keep their feet cool.

Jankovic, who beat Austria's Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3, put her feet in ice during changeovers.