Konta holds nerve to seal victory in battle of Britons

Watson allows six set points to slip to miss out in tie-break British No 1 sprints clear to set up match against Cirstea

After beating her nearest competitor within the British game, Johanna Konta acknowledged that last night’s first-round match in New York had been freighted with unusually high levels of anxiety.

Yet it was Konta’s opponent, her friend and long-time rival Heather Watson, who seemed to find those tensions harder to deal with. Watson was arguably the better player for most of the first hour but she crumbled when the heat was on, allowing six set points to slip. From then on, her frustrations preyed on her mind and it was Konta who sprinted to a 7-6, 6-1 victory.

“There is more interest at home, so there will be more opinions from people at home,” Konta said. aid. “ObviObvi ously we spend a lot of time together. There’s always going oing to be rivalry between compatriots.” riots.”

The narrative felt as though hough it echoed the wider sweep ep of their respective careers. eers. Watson was the quicker ker out of the blocks, in the he same way that she and d Laura Robson had been the golden girls of British tennis around the turn of the 21st century.

But Konta stayed calm, , even as it looked as if she he might fall decisively behind. She kept working, kept placing her faith in her simple method: booming cross-court oss-court forehands and pinpoint serves. As time went on, the sheer weight of repetition carried her away from her opponent.

“Jo handled the circumstances umstances well,” said Anne Keothavong, avong, the British Fed Cup captain and former No 1, who was commentating ntating on Amazon Prime. “It’s never easy playing a fellow Brit, particularly articularly when it’s someone you get on well with. There was mutual respect.

“It was an impressive e tie-break from Jo to come from 6-3 down. When it really mattered, unfortunately Watson was too passive. On three out of those hose four set points, Jo came up with a big serve and was too good. But on one of those set points, that slice backhand on ball three, that will probably give her nightmares.” Konta thus earned a secondround tie tomorrow against Sorana Cirstea, a Romanian player she crushed 6-2, 6-2 in their only meeting on the grass of Eastbourne three years ago. In the meantime, she will probably go back on the golf simulator, which she has been enjoying during her time off. “Being here is like a cruise,” she said in her post-match interview. “Like we are somewhere in the middle of the Pacific and cannot get off the boat. That’s the scenario. I don’t feel like I am in New York. “Sometimes I see the skyline of Manhattan and I am like, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s there.’ At the warm-up event, I thought to myself, ‘I have no idea what day it is, what round it is, what tournament it is – it’s one of those groundhog days’.” Meanwhile, there wa was sad news from Carla Suaraz Navar Navarro, the stylish Spanish baseliner wh who has been ranked No 6 in the wor world. She had declined to come to N New York on medical grounds a and yesterday revealed tha that she had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, which will require six months of chemotherapy chemotherapy.

At 31, Suar Suarez Navarro had already announced that this wo would be her last seas season on the profes professional tour. “I h have to face re reality,” she s said. “It is tim time to accep cept it and try to get ahead relying on medical advi advice. Always with positivity in the face of adversity. Pa Patience and self-belief gu guided me through my care career. Not the easiest rival to deal with. I’ll need my truly best.” Serena Williams opened her campaign with a 7-5, 6-3 win over f fellow American Kristie A Ahn.