Ken in Australian Open Action

Ken and new partner Travis Parrot went down 7-6 6-3 to Arnauld Clement and Jeremy Chardy of France in the first round of the Australian open.

The anglo/american pairing squandered a 6-2 lead in the first set tie-break and also failed to convert any of the 6 break points they fashioned.

Ken said after the match that he was gutted with the result but very happy with how he is playing. His next tournament is the ATP South African Open.

Ken is starting the 2011 season at the tournament in Chennai, India. His partner for the week is the German, Philip Marx who is currently ranked no 68 in the world.

After Chennai, it’s off to Melbourne for the first grand slam of the year. Last year Ken reached the second round while playing with Colin Fleming. This year he is playing with the experienced American, Travis Parrot.

Keep up to date with Ken’s progress in 2011 by following him on twitter and by checking back on this site for regular updates.

Jarkko Nieminen of Finland (from www.australianopen.com)

Ken and Colin fought hard but eventually bowed out of the Australian Open losing 6-4 4-6 4-6 to the German/Finnish pairing, Kohlman and Niemenin.

The match couldn’t have started better for Flemski as they started off playing unbelievable tennis. They took total control, breaking early and had further chances before Ken served out the first set.

The possible turning point of the match occured early in the second set when Flemski missed chances to get an early break. This seemed to Kohlman and in particular Niemenin who don’t forget is a world class singles player. The German/Finnish combination started to return much better, eventually forcing the break on Ken’s serve and they went on to level the match.

Things didn’t get much better for Flemski at the start of the third set when Ken was broken and then they failed to convert multiple break back points on Kohlman’s serve. Flemski continued to fight hard but couldn’t find the break back and Kohlman/Niemenin went on to  claim the 3rd set and the match.

The lads spoke to BBC Scotland after the defeat. Click here to view the interview.