Green grass of home suits Jo
Konta on form after French flop
JO KONTA bounced back from her disappointing performance at the French Open with a clinical first victory of the grass- court season yesterday.
The British No 1 got her Wimbledon preparation back on track as she swept aside Japan’s Kurumi Nara in just under an hour, to set up a second-round match against Heather Watson tomorrow.
Having left Paris with a swipe at the media, who she appeared to partially blame for her first-round exit, the 27-year- old appeared at ease again yesterday.
Speaking after her 6-2, 6-3 victory she credited the home crowd in Nottingham and spoke of how happy and healthy she feels, while insisting she feels no added pressure before Wimbledon. Konta is now preparing for what she describes as a ‘really tough challenge’ against Watson, who defeated American world No 252 Danielle Lao 6-1, 6-3 earlier in the day.
‘I’m pleased that I got to have my first match out there, and I really wanted to make sure I competed every single point,’ Konta said.
‘I felt I did that today, and I think through that it gave me enough opportunities to come through.’
Asked if she thought Watson would prove a tough opponent, she said: ‘100 per cent, every match is tough. There are no easy matches regardless of who you play and what number they have next to their names. So, most definitely. And I know she enjoys playing on this surface.
‘She also loves playing in front of the home crowd, so I think that it will be a really great match. I am really looking forward to a really tough challenge like that, I think that will be a positive thing for me to compete through.’
‘Right now, I feel good where I am and I am healthy, which is the most important thing. I am definitely enjoying the challenges I am facing and am really just looking forward to trying to make it to the end of each tournament that I play.’
Katie Boulter, 21, also progressed to the second round with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer — her first WTA main draw victory.
Meanwhile, Dan Evans resumed his battle for a Wimbledon wildcard with another victory, but spoke of the difficulty in returning from the isolation of a drugs ban.
The bad boy of Britishitish tennis said he hasn’t heardd from his former Davis Cup team-mates, includingng Andy Murray, sincece returning from a 12-month ban for taking cocaine. Murray was scathing of Evans’ failed test last April, saying the former British No 2 had ‘let himself downn and all of the peopleple that help him’.
And Evans appearspears resigned to the factt that he will not be welcomed back with open arms by all his fellow players.
Speaking after his first-round 6- 3, 7- 5 win over Dominik Koepfer at the Nottingham Open, Evans said: ‘ Everybody at the tournaments has been fine.
‘I have not spoken to Andy, and I’ve seen Kyle Edmund once. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I think it was just ddown as a mmistake and hohopefully we can mmove on.’ He aadded that during hihis year away from the sport he ‘ kept myself to myself’. The 28-year-old has enjoyed a promising return to tennis, winning 13 of his 16 matches so far and climbing to a world ranking of 530. Yet, although his fight for wildcards for Wimbledon and other tournaments has attracted the attention of Parliament, he does not appear totally confident in receiving a pass to the Wimbledon main draw. When asked if he had an update on the All England Club’s position, he did not even mention getting into the main draw, with his biggest hope seeming to be a wildcard into qualifying.
He said: ‘There’s not that much for me to know. I guess just see what happens this week, see where I end up playing.
‘If it’s Wimbledon pre-qualifying that’s fine, if it’s qualifying that’s fine.’
Top seed Cameron Norrie lost his match against Japan’s Tatsuma Ito 6-1, 5-7, 3-6 and James Ward came through in three sets against German qualifier Tobias Simon.