Western and Southern Open: Konta stumbles to give Sabalenka first-round win
Johanna Konta was a mess from start to finish at the Western and Southern Open on Monday night. The Briton, who came off a disastrous finish in Montreal, carried her poor f along with her by committing numerous double faults and errors off the forehand that gave Aryna Sabalenka a huge win in a hard fought three setter 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Stadium Three at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
The Belorussian came off a huge run in Montreal where she handed Caroline Wozniacki, the world number two, an early defeat before going into the round of sixteen where she met her match against Elise Mertens.
While her journey in the tournament seemed to be stronger, Konta had a troubling finish and was unable to get up speed against Svitolina in the fourth round. With some days off, the players had time try to get back on the right foot and make their opening round match of the Western and Southern Open more positive.
They both kept on serve with Sabalenka making her mark to start the set followed by a hold from Konta. The Briton clearly struggled with her second serve that got her trouble in the fourth game, handing her opponent a chance on deuce.
She recovered with a strong first serve, landing an ace before leveling the score to maintain serve. The Briton’s offense began to improve keeping the first serve percentage high which resulted in the first break going to her in the seventh.
However, when trying to consolidate her lead with a hold of serve, Sabalenka wouldn’t allow that to happen and earned a chance on deuce before breaking right back.
They continued to break each other, giving the lead to Konta after nine games when she tried to end the breaks and lock down her service game to clinch the set. Sabalenka went to great lengths to keep herself going by setting up great returns that gave her a break point opportunity.
However, she couldn’t keep the rally alive with a run after a cross-court hits from Konta that put them back to deuce. After four consecutive breaks, it came to the Briton putting in a lot on the returns to take the set and lead after 57 minutes.
Her serve finished with 64 percent success, landing 13 winners with eight unforced errors. While she was beaten at the net, having the momentum was key to playing out the set her way.
She came out in the second set with a hold that matched Sabalenka’s before earning a break to love to lead again. Konta added a service to love, gaining a 3-1 lead before the Belorussian scored her own to cut the margin down to one.
Konta’s offense began to disappear, resulting in Sabalenka taking control of the lead after the seventh game in the second set. Too many double faults from the Briton caused her to give up too much ground and needing to regroup fast as she served down a game.
She committed two double faults in the eighth that gave her opponent all the room to finish comfortably where victory in the ninth set up a pivotal third set after 34 minutes. Sabalenka served 86 percent with a massive push against her struggling opponent that put pressure on the Briton with the hope to keep on it.
It didn’t go that way as Konta fought on to keep the score level through four before taking her hold of serve back into the fifth and placing pressure on the Belorussian. Getting another break from her at this stage proved difficult as Sabalenka stayed tight ready to go all the way to win it.
She gained a 4-3 lead with Konta committing a ninth double fault that really took a toll on her service that sat at only 58 percent. Konta was running out of time as Sabalenka captured the eighth ready to play for the match.
The Belorussian didn’t get the chance to play as the Briton’s forehand dragged along to rack up a couple of errors before double faulting a tenth time. It gave the 20-year-old match point but she lost it on a bad return that allowed the game to go to deuce.
Konta got the chance to put her best foot forward saving three match points to go to a tenth game where she would still have to face Sabalenka serving for a spot in the second round. She held to win with a two points margin over Konta to conclude the match and a final error from the Briton ending 2 hours and 25 minutes.
Sabalenka's strategy to keep the main offense of her game better than her opponent paid off by winning 71 percent of points on the first serve with five aces coming from her end.
Konta had 10 double faults to finish her tournament with nine coming in the last two sets.
The 20-year-old Belorussian will now prepare for her second round match against the winner of Karolina Pliskova and Agnieszka Radwanska.