Konta knocked out of Australian Open
BRITISH number one Johanna Konta suffered a shock defeat by world number 123 Bernarda Pera in the second round of the Australian Open.
The American won 6-4 7-5 to claim only her second win at Grand Slam level.
Ninth seed Konta had reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals on her past two visits to Melbourne Park.
“It’s a bit frustrating but I’m still taking good stuff from this,” Konta said. “I don’t feel, by any means, it’s a massive catastrophe.”
“I play every event to be there until the end, so I definitely don’t want to be going home this early.”
Konta, 26, has now won just three of 11 matches since reaching the Wimbledon semifinals in July.
She saved four match points on a hot and blustery afternoon but framed a smash on the fifth to give Pera the biggest win of her career.
The 23-year-old lost in qualifying and only made it into the main draw of a Slam for the first time as a lucky loser, after another player withdrew through injury.
The Croatia-born American goes on to face Barbora Strycova in the third round after the Czech 20th seed beat Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena 6-3 6-4.
Konta could not cope with the pace and depth coming at her on show court two, as Pera attacked relentlessly off her returns and forehand.
The Briton’s serve failed to make its usual impact, with the average speed down 9kmph on her previous match as she finished without hitting a single ace.
Despite landing 70 per cent of her first serves, she would end the match having won just 54 per cent of those points, while 14 winners illustrated her struggle to hit through Pera.
“I think my serve definitely let me down a little bit today,” Konta said.
An overhead that was completely missed, followed soon after by a mis-hit smash on match point, summed up the way her game had unravelled.
“I do think I was a little uncoordinated today,” Konta told BBC Radio 5 live.
“I don’t think I’ve fallen over on my own two feet since I was going through growth spurts.”