KONTA CRASHES OUT IN US OPEN FIRST ROUND
JO IS SHOCKED BY WORLD No 78
If the roars of the Centre Court crowd have been ringing in Jo Konta’s ears for the past six weeks, then they will surely have stopped after last night’s sobering US Open defeat.
the world No 7 was brought crashing back to earth when she went down 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to the diminutive world No 78 Aleksandra Krunic, making her the biggest upset victim of the early first-round encounters.
two years ago this kind of result would barely have caused the batting of an eyelid at flushing Meadows, but such has been Konta’s ascendancy that she will view it as a shattering disappointment.
With Serena Williams out she was among a cluster of genuine contenders, but whereas she was able to fight her way out of her epic Wimbledon second round against Donna Vekic, this time there was to be no escape.
Afterwards Konta pledged that she would not ‘catastrophise’ the outcome. however, as sweetly as her Serbian opponent struck the ball, it was a strangely lacklustre display by Konta’s now established standards. With heather Watson also losing, there was not a British woman left by teatime.
Konta has played only two events since Wimbledon, and following this second openinground Grand Slam defeat of 2017 she might now wish she had added to that.
Against someone as competent as Krunic she was always likely to pay heavily for a first- serve percentage of just 45, and the 42 unforced errors that were officially logged.
While she is hardly alone among even the top women in this, there was once again the suspicion that if her aggressive Plan A is not working, there is not much of a back-up strategy.
Konta was later quick to discard any relevance of her Wimbledon experience, or the expectations of being the main British hope in Andy Murray’s absence.
‘ I don’t take anything for granted,’ she said. ‘I think it would be quite obnoxious of me to come in here expecting I have a right to be in the second week. how I did at Wimbledon is not something I bring into every match I play. the tennis season moves on quickly.
‘ My only responsibility is towards me and towards the work I do, and to make sure I do myself justice. I have no full control over the outcome of any match. I have control over the things I bring to the match, so I felt I really competed as best as I could. I definitely would have liked to play better, but my opponent was stronger today.’
the result is a serious blow to her hopes of making a first appearance at the eightwoman WtA Championships in Singapore late in October, for which she was in seventh position.
She could not be faulted for battling until the last point, and Krunic swatted the ball cross court with impressive penetration. Yet it was a surprise that Konta could not assert her authority after recovering from an early break down in the decider to lead it 3-2.
As for Watson, Britain’s other female singles representative, it was a case of merely adding to her bafflingly poor US Open record.
the Channel Islander won the junior event here in 2009 but since then has gone down to seven consecutive first-round losses, making it her unhappiest venue in what has been otherwise a solid enough career.
the latest setback came in the form of 6-4, 6-4 defeat against world No 47 Alize Cornet of france, after she had mounted a fightback to reach 4-4 in the second set.
It is all the more puzzling as she learned much of her game on the hard courts of florida and has shown she can compete for WtA tour titles on the surface.
‘I’m not superstitious,’ said Watson. ‘I felt better than in some previous matches here — it sucks that it’s over.’