KONTA CRASHES OUT AS GARCIA’S CLASS PAYS
JO KONTA’S descent from the elite level was always going to come with the price tag of being unseeded at the Grand Slams. She duly paid that price when she went out of the US Open first round on an afternoon of excruciating heat and humidity. Her biggest problem in the 6-2, 6-2 defeat at the hands of France’s Caroline Garcia, though, was facing the high quality No 6 seed in the first round — something that she has not had to contend with since playing the 2016 Australian Open. After falling out of the world’s top 32 following Wimbledon she is at the mercy of the draw along with the rest of the rank and file. The British No 1 came in with a 3-2 record against Garcia but they are now 40 world ranking places apart. Once Konta went behind 3-1 in the second set there was no way back.