The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Five Britons through to round two at the Australian Open
Ninth seed one of five British players to make the second round
Johanna Konta could not deliver the same brilliance that won her the title in Sydney last week but still proved too strong for Kirsten Flipkens in the Australian Open first round.
The British No 1 produced a scratchy performance in her opening match on Margaret Court Arena but it is a sign of her rising class that she could still convincingly overcome Flipkens 7-5 6-2.
The ninth seed made it five British players into round two in Melbourne for the first time since 1987 after Kyle Edmund and Heather Watson also progressed yesterday.
Naomi Broady nearly made it six but was edged out by Australian 22nd seed Daria Gavrilova, calling the crowd “pretty harsh” with their bias towards the home player.
Andy Murray and Dan Evans had already won on Monday.
Konta’s breathtaking wins against Eugenie Bouchard and Agnieszka Radwanska at the Sydney International last week have many tipping her as a contender for the title but it was not a vintage display from the 25-year-old.
Flipkens played her part, a crafty and, at 31, experienced opponent, but it was more Konta’s 22 unforced errors, 12 from her usually reliable backhand side, that made the contest closer than it could have been.
“She made it difficult for me out there,” Konta said.
“She’s got this great ability at really frustrating her opponents with some of the balls she’s able to hit.”
Konta will have been pleased to finish in an hour and 36 minutes and, with an 11am start local time, before the peak heat set in.
She looked nervous, however, walking out on court, and committed eight unforced errors in the opening three games alone.
It was not until a moth, floating around her skirt, interrupted her service that the Briton broke into a smile and appeared to relax. She instantly delivered a booming ace.
Konta had two set points when serving at 5-4 but failed to convert and instead it was Flipkens that broke when a wayward backhand volley concluded a tense 10-minute game.
At one stage in her career Konta might have crumbled but now she is made of sterner stuff, proved again when she had to replay a break point she clearly would have won as a wrong call was corrected. It made no difference as Konta broke for 6-5 and served out the first set to love.
The second frame was more straightforward for the Briton, who broke decisively at 2-2 with another booming trademark backhand winner.
One unusual moment soon after saw a Flipkens lob land on her opponents’ foot, Konta misjudging the flight of a ball she thought was dropping out.
The next point she fired off a backhand down the line and broke again for 5-2.
It summed up a topsy-turvy match for Konta, who will now face Japan’s bighitting but erratic 19-year-old Naomi Osaka. She needed three sets to overcome Thai wildcard Luksika Kumkhum 6-7 (2-7) 6-4 7-5.
Watson finds peak motivation at the start of the season and she may have scored her best win of 2017 already after dumping Samantha Stosur out.
Stosur, seeded 20 and a local favourite despite having a dismal record at her home tournament, is the highest-ranked opponent, at 21st, that Watson has ever beaten at a grand slam.
In 17 attempts against players in the top 50, this was only her second success, the other coming in a mammoth match against French- woman Caroline Garcia at Wimbledon in 2015.
Watson’s 6-3 3-6 6-0 victory also marks a dramatic upturn in form, given she failed to go past the second round of any tournament from June last year and saw her ranking drop from 50th to 81st.
Asked for the cause of the difference, Watson said: “Because I’m fresh. I haven’t played matches in a while so I’m motivated. I’ve had that time off and been at home.
“When it gets hard for me is when I’ve done too many weeks on the road and all I think about is going home.”
Broady provided more evidence of her excellent progress in the day’s final match but lost out to the Russian-born Australian Gavrilova 3-6 6-4 7-5.
“It helped ‘Dasha’ a lot having the crowd behind her – when it’s such a close match, that makes a big difference,” Broady said.
“They were pretty harsh the longer the match went on. They started shouting between first and second serves but I’ve had way worse...”