Johanna Konta rushed to victory and the fourth round at the US Open. In a surprising one-sided match between two strong opponents, the British star was too much for Belinda Bencic in a 6-2, 6-1 straight set play on Grandstand court at the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center Friday. The 13th seed had 29 winners and eight aces in a near landslide victory.
Two of the best players in the WTA matched up for a fourth time with plenty of drama coming from both sides. Bencic had trouble in her opening round but somehow turned things around against Samantha Crawford. After showing power against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, it was clear that the 19-year-old had everything looking better.
The same couldn’t be said for the 14th ranked British star who won her first WTA title last month. The 25-year-old crumbled apart during the second set of her second-round match due to the heat and dehydration. After recovering from the concerning moment on court, she fought back to win the match in straight sets setting up a critical moment for both players in the tournament.
Things started normally in the opening pair of games, but in the third game with Bencic on serve, the challenge soon followed. Konta forced the Swiss teen into deuce where she fought for control on the opening break point. Knowing the need to remain on hold of serve, the 19-year-old struck back and kept things locked on her end after the second break. The first break arrived in the fifth with Konta consolidating her love service with an 11th recorded winner that gave her a 3-2 lead.
She continued racking up the winners that led her to a three-game winning streak sending Bencic nuts. A second consecutive break for the Brit came on her 15th winner that flew by the right of the 19-year-old Swiss star who looked stunned to see the set slip away.
It was officially in the books for Konta as she reached two set points in the eighth to go up in the match after 28 minutes. She finished with three aces and 15 winners while managing a perfect first serve scoring five points from the net. With success at full throttle for the Brit, it became very difficult for Bencic to recover.
She didn’t make things any easier trying to fight fire with fire only to make it easier for Konta on points. She was handed the break in the first game getting back to work on the serve the second set. After taking a 2-0 advantage, the struggling 19-year-old held for the second time in the match staving off her troubles for a brief moment.
When Konta returned to service, she let her opponent have it firing another ace followed by winners to return her two game margin. A break made it 4-1 whose awareness of Bencic’s return let her be in full control. A final chance for Bencic arrived with her down 1-5 to stay in it or face the inevitable defeat.
On serve in the seventh Bencic fired a shot but quickly saw it come back to go down 0-15. It was at that point she threw in the towel as Konta ended the match in 52 with a solid victory. “I felt like I did a good job today with just playing the match that I had a hand in and really just trying to focus on my energy and putting every ounce of energy into the match here,” Konta said after the match.
With the ease into the fourth, the difficulty will take a step up taking on the winner between Anastasija Sevastova and Kateryna Bondarenko on Sunday.
Photo by: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
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