Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
2nd chance for injured star Konta
JO KONTA will try to prove her fitness for the Australian Open at the Sydney International after first pulling out of qualifying with a neck injury.
The British No.1 lasted only 18 minutes in her final qualifying match against Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova after hurting her neck during the warm-up. She was already 4-1 down.
But the world No.37 had recovered enough to accept a lucky loser’s spot by the end of yesterday after the withdrawal of US
Open winner Naomi Osaka – and she will now face No.7 seed Kiki Bertens.
Fellow British No.1 Kyle Edmund pulled out of the Sydney event with a knee injury after losing to Japan’s world No.185 Yasutaka Uchiyama at the Brisbane
International last week.
Kei Nishikori won his first ATP title in nearly three years – and ended a run of nine consecutive defeats in finals – by beating Daniil Medvedev 6-4 3-6 6-2 in the final in Queensland.
The Japanese world No.9 said: “This week was one of the best for me. I’ve never had a week like this to start the season, so it gives me a lot of confidence.”
It gave Nishikori, 29, the 12th ATP trophy of his career and ended a streak of nine successive final losses.
Former world No.1 Karolina Pliskova battled back from a set and a break down to beat Lesia Tsurenko
4-6 7-5 6-2 and win the women’s title for the second time.
Canadian teenager Bianca Andreescu lost in the final of the Auckland International 2-6 7-5 6-1 to world No.14 Julia Goerges.
The world No.152 had beaten top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams to reach the final in only her fourth WTA event.