Johanna Konta had her best challenge of the day but held firm to win at the AEGON Open in Nottingham Thursday. The number one seed had strong opposition early from doubles partner
Yanina Wickmayer but kept it together to win 6-4,6-1 on Centre Court at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.
The Brit’s sudden pass in the opening round allowed her to put focus on the Belgian as she took Konta out at last year’s Birmingham tournament ending the personal winning streak of the 26-year-old. With a bit of contention in her opening round, Wickmayer managed a straight sets win in her quest to keep the ball rolling while the tournament was still lively. Aside from the two being doubles partners at the AEGON Open, both the world number 8 and world number 81 had to put their partnership aside.
Konta certainly had her agenda laid out as she dominated off the opening serve of Wickmayer breaking her in the first game. She stayed on the offensive winning the next three games that included a deuce draw between the two. The highly-ranked Brit took care of retrieving control and coasted towards the set. The fifth finally saw the Belgian get her first serve tactics in play as she delivered lob shots across court making the returns difficult for Konta.
It was enough to get her on the board to avoid the bagel. She consolidated it with a break of the 26-year-old attempting to gain a footing while it was still possible. The second serve of Konta’s was playing a role in her opponent’s comeback as she failed to score a point on her last eight attempts. With no action from one side of her service, Wickmayer closed in by the ninth where she stood a game from overtaking the number one seed. Just when it looked as if the full comeback would hold, key unforced errors gave Konta enough room to close out the tenth and earn the opening set after 45 minutes.
The talk that Konta had with coach Goran Prpić in the late stages of the first did its trick not only get her out of a jam in the first, but kept her consistent going forward. It was in the second set that she once again brought her best to the court and delivered another strong offensive that Wickmayer had yet answered on. The number one seed took a 4-0 run which woke up the Belgian to act fast. She pulled off five breaks but they weren’t enough to stop the onslaught that continued for the British star.
She served for the match but her opponent had one last push in her to avoid another bagel and beat Konta on what looked to be a sliced shot landing just inside the line. She brushed off the brief frustration and hunted down the break that would earn her the straight sets win over her current doubles partner in 1 hour and 14 minutes.
With a place in the quarterfinals, Konta planned to take on countrywoman Ashleigh Barty Friday making it another interesting path for the top seeded Brit.
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