Johanna Konta put plenty of aggression to come out a winner at the Western & Southern Open Tuesday evening. The world number seven held off Kiki Bertens in straight sets winning 6-3, 6-3 on Stadium Three at Linder Family Tennis Center.
This was the first official meeting between the two in a WTA main draw. Bertens earned the shot to take on the British world number seven with her straight sets win over Oceane Dodin. She would find making the third round difficult with Konta getting back in form on the hard courts. The quarterfinalist at Wimbledon took quite a bit of time off before attempting to make her return. Despite losing to Ekaterina Makarova in the second round at Toronto, the 26-year-old has a new chance at making something happen in her second appearance.
She held Bertens in the opening game followed by a fighting service hold from the 25-year-old Dutch player. Konta kept up her end by maintaining the first serve flawlessly taking hits on Berten’s return game. She consolidated in the fourth with a break that Bertens assisted on after committing a double fault. The second serve gave Konta the push for the break and a 3-1 lead. Momentum was clearly in the hands of the British number seven seed who had a grip on the second with another hold in the fifth.
Bertens leveled at three all but it was the last one she could win against Konta who went on a runaway with the set. The seventh seed served for the set in the ninth struggling early with the forehand errors. She struck back winning the next four consecutive points getting out of trouble while locking down the set lead after 36 minutes. Konta’s coach Wim Fisset came out to analyze the first set with her asking her to execute, focus on the movement and adjust where necessary. The first serve was all but perfect for the British star as she landed all 14 shots and both break point opportunities.
She carried on into the second set with a hold against Bertens who was having problems with the serve. She made a double fault on serve which opened the lead up for Konta and another one that made it 3-1 for the seventh seed. It wasn’t until the fifth that Bertens found a way to hold the offense together keeping within a game of her opponent. It was not enough as Konta captured the final two games stepping in the court to get tough on the return game and capped the match in straight sets in 1 hour and 16 minutes.
Konta finished 18 games with a 90 percent success on the first serve dropping just three points while her second serve returns helped bring her to a place in the third round. She’ll face the winner between Dominika Cibulkova and Alize Cornet.
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