WAY TO GO, JO!
Konta run continues but Laura just can’t stop rot
Laura robson has forgotten how to win, but her less celebrated compatriot Jo Konta seems to be in the blissful position of having forgotten how to lose.
That much was clear in yesterday’s first round of the us open, which saw robson squander a 4-0 lead in the deciding set while the now british no 2 romped to her 14th consecutive victory.
anyone who watched the british pair on a steaming day at Flushing Meadows will have been reminded of the old adage that winning is a habit.
In fact, it is a habit which is both glorious and elusive.
robson went down 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to russia’s Elena Vesnina, sadly faltering when in sight of what would have been her first Grand slam win in two years — the first since she came back from wrist surgery before Wimbledon. Konta needed no second invitation in swiftly wrapping up a 6-3, 6-0 progression against the talented but raw american wildcard Louisa Chirico.
she now has the possibility of facing sW19 finalist Garbine Muguruza in the second round.
That was where andy Murray was also trying to get last night as he took on australia’s nick Kyrgios in the arthur ashe stadium. Murray did so knowing that his Davis Cup team-mate James Ward, another who is currently on a terrible roll, had gone down 6-1, 7-5, 6-3 to the brazilian Thomaz bellucci.
british no 2 aljaz bedene is through, however, after his opponent Ernests Gulbis retired when trailing 6-3, 4-6, 0-3. He will now meet american Donald Young.
Ward and robson are both utterly shorn of confidence and in the case of the latter, you knew that there was still much to play for even as she moved ahead in the decider against Vesnina.
The russian represented a good opportunity for robson to progress in the tournament as she is only ranked 110.
but Vesnina will have known that robson led world no 59 Christina McHale by a set and 5-3 before losing in new Haven last week.
Consequently, robson supporters could not avoid that sinking feeling when the Gb player began to wobble despite getting two breaks up in the decider.
robson admitted: ‘For some unknown reason I let her try to lose the match rather than me trying to win it. I could have won. I didn’t feel nervous but I took five per cent off my shots.’
of course, patience is needed in the case of robson, still only 21, who at least looks in good physical shape and is injury-free.
Probably more concerning than her current lack of confidence are the glitches in her serve and ball toss, which are as much of an issue now as they were before the 18-month hiatus that resulted from surgery.
as Murray has shown, in tennis it can take as much as a year after a long lay- off to fully regain top form.
robson will now play some lower tier events in Mexico to try to get some wins under her belt — in the manner that Konta has done with a regularity that makes getting across the finish line as natural as breathing for her at the moment.
The 24 year- old won three qualifying matches here and before that played two Challenger level events in Canada to continue the momentum she gained during an impressive grass-court season.
‘I’m not counting. I put it down to health,’ said Konta of her 14-match run.
‘We all start at zero on the court but I’m feeling happy because I have a lot matches under my belt and you can’t practise that. I’m working on exactly the same things I was at the start of the year.’
Ward has now lost eight matches in a row since reaching the third round of Wimbledon.
His form has to be a concern for british Davis Cup captain Leon smith ahead of this month’s semi-final against australia in Glasgow.
The Londoner has been transformed on previous occasions when playing in the team format but he remains an enigma when playing solely for himself.
Yesterday, he was only competitive with left-hander bellucci in the second set.