Ruthless Konta hits top form against out-of-sorts Williams
● British No 1 at her best as American great suffers heaviest defeat of career
Johanna Konta found her form in spectacular style to hand Serena Williams the heaviest defeat of her illustrious career.
The 23-time grand slam singles champion won only one game in a match for the first time, with Konta reeling off 12 in a row to triumph 6-1, 6-0 in the opening round of the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose.
It has been a tough season for Konta, who has dropped to 48th in the world rankings following her second-round loss at Wimbledon to Dominika Cibulkova.
But this was the British No 1 at her best, taking advantage of a below-par performance from Williams, particularly on serve, with a ruthless display that lasted just 51 minutes.
This was Williams’ first match since her Wimbledon final loss to Angelique Kerber and, after holding serve in the first game, things rapidly went downhill.
The 36-year-old landed only 40 per cent of her first serves, served seven double faults and won just ten points in the second set, where Konta was completely dominant. Konta was due to play another American, Sofia Kenin, in the next round, late last night.
Speaking on court after the win, Konta, who is the first British player to beat Williams, said: “It’s an absolute privilege for me to be on the same court as her.
“She obviously wasn’t playing anywhere near her best level but I was just trying to play the match on my terms and do what I can out here and put aside the incredible champion she is and play the player on the day. I had to stay very much on every single point because against her it can turn around at any point.”
Williams, who has climbed back to 26th in the rankings, was playing just her fifth tournament since giving birth to daughter Olympia last September.
She said on wtatennis.com: “I think she played well in the second set. I wasn’t sharp at all in the first set, and she got more confident from there. She clearly ran away with it.
“I know I can play a zillion timesbetter,butihavesomany things on my mind, I don’t have time to be shocked about a loss that clearly wasn’t when I was at my best. I can only try to be there and fight, which is what I was doing out there. I moved a lot better, too, so I’ll take the positives where I can.”
Heather Watson will face Venus Williams in the second round after a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over wild card Claire Liu.
Watson, world No 133, wrapped up the first set in 47 minutes after breaking for a 4-3 and then a 5-4 lead. But American Liu, ranked 21 places lower, bounced back in a second set which saw four consecutive breaks of serve.
Watson took the third – and deciding – set in 52 minutes to book her place in the next round. Meanwhile, Cameron Norrie continued his fine form with a comfortable first-round win over Prajnesh Gunneswaran in the ATP Tour event in Los Cabos.
SERENA WILLIAMS
The British No 2 reached his second ATP semi-final in Atlanta last week and took just under an hour to see off India’s Gunneswaran 6-2, 6-2.
Norrie, ranked 74, broke his opponent’s serve four times and saved all three break points he faced to set up a second-round clash with eighth seed Feliciano Lopez.
Elsewhere, Benoit Paire was booed off court at the Citi Open in Washington after a spectacular meltdown during his first-round loss to Marcos Baghdatis.
Paire, who is known for his short fuse, lost his temper after missing a smash to drop serve and trail 5-2 in the deciding set. He sat on the court and smashed one racket before flinging it across the tarmac, and then walked to his chair, kicking that before smashing 2 Johanna Konta hits a forehand during her 6-1, 6-0 demolition of Serena Williams at the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose. another racket and sending it flying.
Baghdatis, himself no stranger to a racket smash, walked over to Paire apparently to try to calm him down but, after making no effort to return a serve on match point in the next game, the Frenchman smashed a final racket before shaking hands. When the crowd were encouraged at the end of the match to show their appreciation for Paire, a 29-year-old ranked 55, they responded with loud booing.
Stan Wawrinka is also out of the Citi Open after losing 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/3) to qualifier Donald Young.
The three-time grand slam winner, who tumbled down the world rankings following knee surgery, upset sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon but fell at the first hurdle on the American hard courts.
A break in the first game for Young was enough to see him take the first set 6-4, while Wawrinka broke the American four times in the secondset tie-break.
Young broke for 6-3 in the deciding tie-break and then once more to take the win.
“I can play a zillion times better, but I have so many things on my mind, I don’t have time to be shocked about a loss that clearly wasn’t wheniwasatmybest”