Fighter Konta wins in record time!
SOMEHOW holding body and soul together in the searing heat at Flushing Meadows, Jo Konta played the match of her life last night to make history at the US Open.
The 24-year-old British No 2 won the longest women’s match in the tournament since the tiebreak was introduced in the 1970’s to knock out Wimbledon finalist Garbine Muguruza 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 in three hours and 23 minutes — beating the previous record by three minutes.
After Heather Watson came so close to beating Serena Williams at Wimbledon, Konta managed to close the deal against the player the great American eventually beat in the final.
By overcoming the world No 9, Konta, ranked 97 but now on the brink of the top 70, registered the finest win by a British woman since Laura Robson defeated Li Na and Kim Clijsters here two years ago.
Andy Murray was trying to join her in the third round last night as he tackled Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, but the GB men’s No 2 Aljaz Bedene Bedene missed a decent opportunity to make the third round, losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to American Donald Young.
Konta, born in Australia to Hungarian parents who moved to the UK 10 years ago, is now on a 15-match winning streak since losing to Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon but this was the first against an opponent in the top 80.
She came through the qualifying event and won two lower-tier events in Canada last month but this was by far the most significant win in the sequence.
She now faces 18th seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany.
At times in her career the Eastbourne-based player has looked a nervous wreck on court but in line with her new self she kept her composure and showed admirable stamina in stifling temperatures.
Having beaten Muguruza on grass in her home town before Wimbledon, she repeated the feat on the biggest stage with a supreme physical effort against the highly-rated Spaniard.
‘I was running down every ball I could and trying not to sit down at the back of the court after every point,’ said an exhausted but elated Konta. ‘She brought that top-10 mentality to the court so I had to fight for each point as I knew it wouldn’t be given to me. To be honest I’m so tired, I think we both were. I think she probably didn’t play her best today but credit to her, she’s an incredible competitor.’
Although it understandably got somewhat ragged towards the end, this was a high-calibre contest for the most part, with Muguruza doing enough to show why she has had a breakthrough season.
Konta’s overall improvement this summer under Spanish coach Esteban Carril can never have been better showcased than in the brutal first set, which put the match on course to be the longest ever. Her returns piled the pressure on Muguruza’s serve, while her defensive scrambling was Murrayesque at times.
Hitting her groundstrokes from a low body position, she gave as good as she got against the Spaniard, one of the cleanest ball-strikers on the tour. Her second serve was outstanding, too.
After breaks were traded, Konta had two set points at 5-4 after failing to serve it out in the previous game, but needed a tiebreak to finally clinch it. She edged ahead from 4-4 after a Muguruza ace was ruled out by Hawk-Eye and took it 7-4.
The statusesque Spaniard served for the second set at 5-5 and created two set points but was defied by accurate ground-stroking.
In the subsequent tiebreak there was controversy when umpire Corinne Hinueber overruled a call in Muguruza’s favour when she was 5-3 up, much to Konta’s fury, but the decision was correct.
THE combination of heat at over 30 degrees and high humidity meant that the WTA’s 10-minute relief break was allowed at a set all. On this occasion it was hard to argue the conditions were anything other than brutal, with two hours and 27 minutes already on the clock.
Having come back to the court, it was Konta who was immediately dialled in and she surged ahead to 4-0 as the match closed in on becoming the longest in US Open history. She saved break points at 4- 1 against an increasingly frustrated and one- dimensional opponent and then managed to serve it out at the end with a minimum of drama.