Johanna Konta floored at Australian Open as she pays price for ‘rustiness’

Johanna Konta has endured a series of setbacks since her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals last summer and the world No10 suffered another on Thursday, when her Australian Open campaign was ended by an opponent who had never played a Grand Slam singles match until this week.

Bernarda Pera, a 23-year-old Croatian-born American ranked No123 in the world, beat a badly misfiring Konta 6-4, 7-5. The only occasion when the 26-year-old Briton has lost to a lower-ranked opponent at Grand Slam level was when she was beaten by Shahar Pe’er, the world No155, at the US Open four years ago, when Konta herself was ranked outside the top 100.

“I just didn’t play great,” Konta said after suffering her earliest defeat here since making her debut in the main draw two years ago. “I didn’t do enough with my service games or my returns.”

Konta paid a price for her lack of matches in recent months.

She suffered five straight defeats at the end of her 2017 campaign, which she finished early because of a foot problem, and had not played competitively for three months when she returned a fortnight ago in Brisbane, where she had to retire from her quarter-final with a hip injury.

This was Konta’s third early exit at the hands of an unheralded opponent in her last four Grand Slam tournaments, following her defeats by Su-Wei Hsieh and Aleksandra Krunic at last year’s French and US Opens respectively.

Konta admitted she needed more matches under her belt to rebuild her confidence. She said: “You look to keep improving your game and your physicality through training.

“But being match fit and having that feel in points, and belief in what you do in certain points, that comes with the volume of matches and coming through tough matches.”

Pera, who was not even in the draw here after losing in the final round of qualifying but was given her chance as a lucky loser following an injury withdrawal, belied her lowly ranking. The left-hander hit her ground strokes with impressive power and kept her composure on the biggest points, though Konta’s serve and ground strokes lacked their usual potency.

“My serve definitely let me down a little bit,” Konta said. “When I’m not serving the way I want to, I don’t think I’m putting as much pressure on [my opponent] in their service games.”

Pera played with great freedom and was never afraid to go for her shots. “I didn’t put much pressure on myself, so I think that helped,” she said . “I was able to stay calm.”

The American, who had 17 break points in the match to Konta’s two, made the only break of serve in the first set at 4-4 and quickly recovered from 2-0 down in the second. Konta saved three match points when she served at 3-5 and recovered to 5-5, as Pera started to tighten up, but the match swung decisively in the following game.

Konta made a complete mess of a smash to go 0-40 down and was then broken as she slipped and fell on her backside in attempting to get to Pera’s return of serve. On Pera’s fifth match point in the following game, Konta missed what should have been another routine smash to hand the American victory.

“I just didn’t play great,” Konta said. “I think it’s a part of tennis. It’s a part of everyone’s career. There are always going to be days like this.”

Hsieh claimed yet another big scalp when the world No88 beat Garbine Muguruza, the world No3 and reigning Wimbledon champion, 7-6, 6-4. Hsieh, a 32-year-old from Taiwan whose unorthodox double-handed strokes and clever use of spin can unsettle the heavy hitters, had previously managed only two wins over top-20 players in her 17 years as a professional.

Muguruza, suffering her earliest defeat here for five years, made 43 unforced errors.

The Spaniard, who was in with a chance of finishing the tournament as world No1, had her right thigh strapped, received treatment for a blister on her foot and appeared to struggle in the intense heat on court as the temperature approached 40C. She paid credit to Hsieh, calling her “a very tricky opponent”.

The most-anticipated match of the third round in the women’s draw is likely to be the clash between Maria Sharapova and Angelique Kerber, the champions in 2008 and 2016 respectively.

Sharapova, playing in this tournament for the first time since she failed a drugs test two years ago which led to her 15-month ban, defeated Anastasija Sevastova 6-1, 7-6, avenging her defeat by the 27-year-old Latvian at last year’s US Open.

Kerber celebrated her 30th birthday with a crushing 6-4, 6-1 victory over world No52 Donna Vekic to maintain her unbeaten record this year following her triumph last week at the Sydney International, which ended the German’s run of 27 tournaments without a title.