Virus forces Konta to quit Connecticut

BRITISH No 1 Jo Konta withdrew last night from the Connecticut Open in New Haven due to a viral illness. The 27-year-old (below), who beat German Laura Siegemund 6-2, 7-5 on Monday, was scheduled to face Carla Suarez Navarro but tournament organisers announced she had pulled out beforehand, giving her opponent a walkover to the quarter-finals. It came on the day Kyle Edmund was named as the only seeded British player, at 16, for the US Open. There were no surprises on the men’s side with world No 1 and defending champion Rafa Nadal named top seed, ahead of Roger Federer and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro third. Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who heads to Flushing Meadows in his best form since returning from an elbow injury, is seeded sixth. Serena Williams has been seeded 17th, one place below sister Venus. Serena, who finished runner-up at Wimbledon this year after losing to Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final, is ranked 26th in the world, nine places below the seeding she has been awarded. Williams, who has won the US Open six times and will turn 37 next month, missed last year’s tournament because of pregnancy. In June, United States Tennis Association president Katrina Adams said the US Open would revise seedings to take into account the effect of pregnancy on the current rankings of players. Simona Halep is the top seed in the women’s draw.