Tennis is a roller-coaster ride and what matters is how you get over your downs

Tennis is a roller-coaster ride, and what matters is how you get over your downs.”Those words will ring true to Keothavong and Baltacha, two 18-year-olds who discovered that striking the ball hard is an effective strategy as long as you are able to cope with an opponent who refuses to play the same game.Koethavong, frustrated out her stride by Davies’s refusal to feed her pace, was defeated 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. “At times,” Keothavong said, “I felt like I was playing one of those old ladies down at the club who just chips everything.”Davies, from Bridgend, who is ranked world No 615 in singles, has done better in doubles after several years playing US collegiate tennis. She helps supplement her tennis by running a website that puts British players in contact with US universities offering tennis scholarships.Although Davies would not be flattered by Keothavong’s description of her game, she knows enough about the British tennis club system to recognise the type she was referring to. “Club tennis in France and Germany is very competitive,” she said “There’s no structure in the British clubs. It’s ladies club matches on Wednesday evenings, and go down to the club after work and have a couple of pints in the bar.”Alan Jones, coach of Keothavong and Baltacha, was unimpressed by their efforts and threatened to hang up his own rackets if they did not improve enough in the next 18 months to get into the main Wimbledon draw as of right. Talking about British women’s tennis, Jones said: “We’re at the lowest ebb with girls in this age group.”.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov continued his dominance over the Frenchman Fabrice Santoro by cruising through to the semi-finals of the St Petersburg Open semi-finals in Russia 6-1, 6-4. Yevgeny Kafelnikov continued his dominance over the Frenchman Fabrice Santoro by cruising through to the semi-finals of the St Petersburg Open semi-finals in Russia 6-1, 6-4.
“He is a very convenient opponent for me,” said the Russian, who has won each of his six matches against Santoro. “I know his game well, and I can adjust to whatever he does.”Kafelnikov said he had felt fit enough to defeat Santoro despite a three-set thriller the previous day against compatriot Mikhail Youzhny, whom he finally beat yesterday morning.”I slept eight hours last night and it was enough to get me through this match,” he said. “I still don’t feel 100 per cent but hopefully with some more rest I will be ready for tomorrow.”In today’s semis Kafelnikov will meet another countryman Marat Safin, who beat the Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic in straight sets 6-3, 7-6.In another quarter-final, Reiner Schuettler of Germany beat Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-5, 6-3. The unseeded Schuettler opened the tournament with an unexpected win over top seed, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.In Vienna, defending champion Lindsay Davenport survived a hard second set to beat French sixth seed Sandrine Testud 6-1 7-6 and secure her place in the semi-finals of the Linz WTA tournament. The 25-year-old American came to Austria fresh from success in last week’s Swisscom Challenge, which she won for the third time.Amanda Coetzer of South Africa battled into the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Open, beating Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 7-6, 7-6.The Slovenian qualifier Tina Pisnik also won through to today’s semi-finals with a 7-6 7-6 win over Meilin Tu of the US Coetzer, 30 last week, fought back in a two-hour tussle..

Next weekend the estimable Henrietta Green brings to London the rural producers she has found, nurtured and brought face to face with food enthusiasts. Next weekend the estimable Henrietta Green brings to London the rural producers she has found, nurtured and brought face to face with food enthusiasts. Her Food Lovers’ Fair in Covent Garden, London, starts on Friday, 2 November, when the 100 stallholders will be showing and selling the best farm produce and artisan foods. There will be cheeses made on farms, rare-breed meats, chocolates, and some tinsel-tinged edible gifts for shoppers able to resist eating the goodies they’ve bought as presents for someone else. Admission to the fair is free, and it opens next Friday at 11am and at 10am on Saturday and Sunday.
You can’t eat any of it but there’s a last chance to see what groceries used to look like. Trolley loads of the boxes, packets, bottles tins and cans of food and drink past have been preserved by ephemera collector Robert Opie.

But his collection at the Museum of Advertising & Packaging in Gloucester (01452 302309) will be packed up after 17 years when the museum closes at the end of the month. For some nostalgic window shopping, and a return to the days before food and drink packaging came without lists of ingredients, calorie and fibre content and E numbers to decipher before buying, go there before Wednesday – it’s open daily from 10am to 6pm.Also marking the end of an era is Michel Bourdin, the chef of The Connaught for 26 years, who retires at Christmas. Until then, the hotel restaurant has valedictory menus – so typically grand, anywhere else would have “wave bye-bye to Michel” menus. Next month will be dedicated to lunch – La Chasse – with game dishes making their presence felt. In December the menu will feature some of Bourdin’s signature dishes such as oysters Christian Dior, and sole Jubil? The Connaught’s menu has always been peppered with celeb names which tell you nothing about what you’re about to eat – sherry trifle Wally Ladd (who he?), or perhaps poulet Audrey Hepburn (I made that one up, but it could easily have existed).

The menus will be available in both hotel restaurants, the Connaught Restaurant and the Grill Room at £58 for lunch and £68 for dinner. M Bourdin will be replaced by Jerome Ponchelle, who has spent almost a decade working with him So plus ?change after the chef’s departure. The Connaught, Carlos Place, Mayfair, London (020-7499 7070).Experimenting with the latest cookbooks means obscure ingredients to source; the local butcher who doesn’t stock tripe, the carob molasses you can’t find anywhere. Sichuan cooking provides the shopper with some particular challenges, so when Fuchsia Dunlop was writing her astonishing and authoritative Sichuan Cookery (Michael Joseph), the Cool Chile Co found and now imports some of the essential heat-imparting ingredients she needed. They sell Sichuan peppercorns, which have an almost anaesthetic effect on the tongue as well as a gorgeous aroma Add them to a stir-fry oil or roast and grind them. Chiles are equally important in Sichuan cookery, and Facing Heaven Chiles – flaming red and just as hot – are used to make oil to go in sauces and add to noodles. The Cool Chile Co also supplies Sainsbury’s Special Selection with mole poblano powder, achiote, caribe, crushed green jalape? wild Mexican oregano and yellow masa harina.