Johanna Konta found herself out of another tournament swiftly Sunday night. The sixth seed continued to suffer in her game that handed Monica Niculescu a breeze through her own to win at the China Open 6-1, 6-2 on Center Court at the National Tennis Center in Beijing
It’s been over a year since they last met in Miami where the Brit evened the series with a strong showing in straight sets over the Romanian. The tail end of the season hasn’t been kind to the world number seven who continues to slide in matches with four consecutive losses. The recent loss to Ashleigh Barty last week didn’t help her confidence going into Beijing but would put everything to make something happen.
She didn’t have the power to start as Niculescu opened serve with a strengthened victory that was just the start. She added four more along the way that completely ravaged the number one Brit into possibly submitting in the opening set. Just when it looked like a shutout was emerging for the Romanian, Konta managed to etch out a victory to her name that extended the life of the first. It was short lived, as Niculescu finished off the seventh game with a hold that closed things out in 29 minutes.
The second didn’t go any better for her despite being able to hold serve against Niculescu. From there on it was the Romanian easily dictating her way to victory once again. A final fight from Konta produced a second game winner but the inevitable conclusion arrived with the quick momentum as the 30-year-old coasted to victory over the Brit that finished off her opening round in 64 minutes. While she had a first serve percentage at 86 percent, the second serve didn’t serve to be a problem for her as Konta only returned 7 of 38 in the match.
While the number one British star continues to try and figure her issues out, Niculescu would await the winner between Peng Shuai and Shelby Rogers in the second round.
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