Konta crashes out in Wuhan
● Fifth-seeded Briton fights back only to falter when serving for match
Johanna Konta crashed out in her opening match at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open as she lost 6-0 4-6 7-6 (7/3) to Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.
The British fifth seed seemed to have survived an early scare, fighting back from losing the first set heavily to take the second before serving for the match and a place in the last 16, only to let Barty back into the contest.
Konta struggled for rhythm early on as she lost the first seven games, with Barty taking the opening set to love in the process.
The world No 7 broke for 4-3 and saw out the second set, before breaking again early in the decider with a powerful forehand winner.
However, serving for the match at 5-4, Konta blew a 30-15 lead, sending a smash wide on break point.
World No 37 Barty took full advantage to force a third-set tie-break, which she dominated from the outside to progress.
On the men’s tour, Belgium’s Steve Darcis sunk the hopes of home wild-card Ze Zhang in the first round of the Shenzhen Open.
The world No 224 put up a good performance against an opponent ranked 148 higher in the rankings, but succumbed 7-5 7-6 (7/3). Also in round one, Israel’s Dudi Sela beat Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden 6-0 7-6 (8/6), while Jeremy Chardy was a 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 winner over Italy’s Alessandro Giannessi.
At the Chengu Open there was more disappointment for the Chinese fans as both Di Wu and Yibing Wu bowed out.
Wu, the world number 220, went down 7-5 6-1 to American qualifier Taylor Fritz, while Yu lost 1-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 to Thiago Monteiro of Brazil.
American Jared Donaldson took almost two and a half hours to grind out a 6-7 (2/7) 7-5, 7-5 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece.
Fifth seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan took the first set 6-1 against Mate Pavic before the Croatian was forced to retire due to injury.