British hopeful konta cruises to breakthrough wimbledon victory
Britain’s Johanna Konta won a singles match at Wimbledon for the first time as she overcame an awkward rain delay to beat Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig.
Konta led 6-1 2-1 when play was suspended on Tuesday afternoon, but despite losing the first three games when the match resumed, she battled back to win 6-1 7-5.
The British number one was awaiting the winner of Canada’s Eugene Bouchard and Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova in round two.
Johanna Konta enjoyed a first Wimbledon singles win
Such has been the speed of Konta’s rise over the last 12 months, it seems strange this was her first singles success at the All England Club, having bowed out in the first round of all four previous attempts.
Konta was ranked 126th in the world 12 months ago but after reaching the fourth round at the US Open and then the semi-finals in the Australian Open, she came into the tournament 19th and as the first British woman to be seeded here since Jo Durie in 1984.
A new-found resilience has been key to the surge and perhaps the old Konta would have allowed the rain-break, which interrupted her dominance on Court One, to do more damage.
She did suffer a wobble, losing the first three games when play resumed at around 5pm but kept her composure, closing out victory in a total of one hour and 15 minutes.
Puig reached the last 16 on her Wimbledon debut in 2013 and after making the semi-finals at Eastbourne earlier this month, climbed to a career-high 36th in the world.
Konta, however, always looked the stronger of the two and while 19th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 2012 finalist Agnieszka Radwanska and two-time champion Petra Kvitova all sit in her quarter, the Briton will take confidence from another assured display.
“It was a tricky first round she’s playing very well on the grass,” Konta said.
“The conditions didn’t make it easy for either of us coming back in the middle of the day and at 5-4 it was even drizzling a bit.
“I was very happy I managed to stay focused as I did and just kept playing.”
Konta’s forehand was in blistering form early on as she broke twice en route to a 4-0 lead.
Puig was struggling to keep up with her opponent’s power and when a double fault gave Konta set-point at 5-1, the Briton capitalised with a penetrative cross-court backhand.
Buoyed by her advantage, Konta began to enjoy herself as twice she lured Puig in with drop-shots, before punching away winners into an open court.
Up 2-1 and seemingly on course for victory, play was suspended for rain and when they returned almost 24 hours later, Konta took some time to rediscover her rhythm.
Puig levelled and then broke to lead 4-2 but the Briton refused to lie down, breaking twice herself and then serving out, throwing her arms up in relief when her opponent’s final shot hit the net.
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British hopeful konta cruises to breakthrough wimbledon victory
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