It has been quite a while since a British woman, playing a first grand-slam tournament main-draw match outside her native Wimbledon - the reliance on wild cards to get into the event there has become something of a national joke - has returned with the kind of impressive figures that marked Anne Keothavong’s success in the US Open yesterday.

Keothavong, the British No 1 and ranked No 87 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, defeated Alexa Glatch, of the United States, 6-2, 6-2. If you feel the desire to rub your eyes, you are not the only one. Although Glatch, ranked No 254 in the world, was in no small manner the architect of her own downfall - she had a marked tendency to spray the ball everywhere but within the lines - Keothavong’s win was a significant moment.

As Nigel Sears, the Great Britain Fed Cup captain, had said, these are the places and the times when you make your mark as a player and Keothavong ought to relish the achievement. Not since 1997 and Sam Smith, who nipped out from her commentary duties to catch part of the match courtside, has a British woman won a round here. “I wasn’t aware of that,” Keothavong said. “Is it really that long? I remember playing Sam on the Girobank Tour at Billesley a few years ago. I won that match, too.”

To come successfully through any match at Flushing Meadows requires reserves of character and, almost as important, an ability to cut out the extraneous noises, smells and antics that prevail at this tournament. You have to know that most people’s attention span does not exceed ten minutes and they are likely to leave their seats in the middle of a brilliant rally. Keothavong kept her composure expertly.

Her goal is to reach the top 50 one day, although no time limits have been set, which is a sensible way of approaching things. “It's been good to be out here in the States for a long spell, I’ve been hitting with a lot of the top players and I know I can match a lot of them as far as forehands and backhands are concerned,” she said. “So much of this game is played in the head.”

In the second round, Keothavong, who has at least eight members of her extended family with her, will play Francesca Schiavone, of Italy, who was a quarter-finalist here five years ago, but has not made a really significant imprint on a grand-slam tournament since.