Konta crashes out, Svitolina eases into second round

Day three of the French Open saw seventh seed Konta losing in miserable fashion, while the fifth seeded Svitolina enjoyed a comfortable win.

Published : May 30, 2017 17:54 IST

Johanna Konta of Great Britain walks off court following defeat in her first round match against Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei on day three of the 2017 French Open at Roland Garros.
Johanna Konta of Great Britain walks off court following defeat in her first round match against Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei on day three of the 2017 French Open at Roland Garros.
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Johanna Konta of Great Britain walks off court following defeat in her first round match against Su-Wei Hsieh of Taipei on day three of the 2017 French Open at Roland Garros.

Johanna Konta crashed out of the French Open on Tuesday, losing 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 to Hsieh Su-Wei in the opening round of the claycourt grand slam.

Starting splendid in cerise, 26-year-old seventh seed Konta swept through the first set in 26 minutes, dominating her Taiwanese opponent with heavy serves, heavy ground-strokes and an aggressive front-foot-forward style.

TOURNAMENT TRACKER

But almost as soon as she had asserted her dominance, the Briton relinquished it, allowing her opponent to settle into a metronomic rhythm of awkward double-fisted ground-strokes off both sides. Time after time Hsieh spooned clumsily-hit ground-strokes deep into the Philippe Chatrier court, sidespun or sliced, only for Konta to swipe her replies wide or long.

And once the Taiwanese had levelled matters in a second-set tie-break, she had all the momentum, while Konta continued to spray errors all around the arena. Fittingly, it was yet another lame forehand into the net that sealed the Briton's fate, as she was left to return to London to prepare for Wimbledon.

Hsieh has a second-round clash to look forward to, and could barely contain her delight. “Thank you for my team,” she giggled, as Konta gathered up her bags and left the court.
Hsieh will next play American Taylor Townsend, who beat Japanese qualifier Miyu Kato 6-4, 6-0.

Bouchard made to fight while Halep cruises

Eugenie Bouchard battled back to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 against Japan's Risa Ozaki in in her opening round encounter. The Canadian will face Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova, the 17th seed, in the second round. Sevastova beat Germany's Annika Beck 6-2, 6-4.

Simona Halep is safely through to the second round of the French Open after beating Jana Cepelova of Slovakia in straight sets.

A recent ankle injury didn’t appear to be troubling the No. 3 seed as Halep raced to a 6-2, 6-3 victory in just 67 minutes.

The Romanian, who was runner up in 2014, will next face Maria Tatjana of Germany.

Svitolina eases into second round

In-form Ukrainian Elina Svitolina moved swiftly into the second round of the French Open, easing through a potentially tricky encounter against Yaroslava Shvedova with a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

The fifth seed, one of the pre-tournament favourites after winning the Rome clay court tournament, was just a cut above her Kazakh opponent, who has reached the quarterfinals here twice.

“I felt good on court played the important points well. Winning a big title just before coming here gave me a lot of confidence and I look forward to my next match,” Svitolina said.

She next faces either German Mona Barthel or Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.

 

 

 

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