Konta delighted to start building momentum as US Open looms

BRITISH No.1 Johanna Konta began her final competitive preparations for next week’s US Open with a straight-sets victory over Laura Siegemund in the Connecticut Open first round.

The World No.46 defeated her German opponent 6-2 7-5 in one hour and 46 minutes in New Haven.

Konta had lost both her previous meetings with Siegemund, the World No.146, but ended that unwanted record to book a meeting with Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

“I knew coming into the match that Laura is one of the best competitors out there, regardless of how many matches she’s played since she’s come back,” Konta (right) said of her opponent, who suffered a right knee injury earlier in the season.

“She’s always going to be very tough to play and her level got better and better, as we saw from the first and second sets. I just tried to knuckle down and keep doing the good things that I did in the first set, and trust that was going to bring me opportunities, and I took a couple.”

The 27-year-old made the ideal start to the match by breaking Siegemund in the opening game and then doubled her initiative before assured serving enabled her to win the first set.

After Konta lost her serve for the first time in the sixth game of the second set, the Briton regained the upper hand with a fourth break in the match before saving a break point to close out.