Johanna Konta got through her first round in fine form at the Australian Open. Many net front points and high levels of power on the ground stroke beat down Madison Brengle in a 6-3, 6-1 win at Hisense Arena at Melbourne Park.
The two met four times in their careers with this one meaning much in the opening round. Both have won against each other in the past once making it even for either one to move forward. The Brit had a bug during her match against Elina Svitolina and then fought only to lose to Agnieszka Radwanska in the opening round at Sydney last week. While she didn’t repeat as champion there, the 26-year-old had her eyes set on better last year’s quarterfinal finish and deal out a loss to the American.
After their opening games, Konta took over control of the set breaking the American in the third before consolidating a second consecutive service hold. Brengle got a needed hold in the fifth but was still finding herself two games down with Konta keeping in tow with the service holds. Konta managed to break Brengle’s strong stance near the baseline where she showed comfort at dealing out returns during the rallies. When they went to deuce, it was the world number nine who kept her eyes on the prize taking a 5-2 run with Brengle on the bubble. Konta had match point in hand but two unforced errors handed Brengle the victory that kept her alive. Konta recovered and laid out three set points that gave her the lead after 36 minutes.
Konta came out guns blazing adding a serve to love against Brengle in the second that rattled her. She struggled but got the hold that put her in the early groove that had Konta leading after the third. The Brit added a break in the fourth that pulled her ahead in the score with plenty of dictation coming from her ground strokes. Though Brengle challenged her in the fifth, Konta kept the pace of the rallies high that broke the American for a 4-1 run.
Brengle nearly had a victory in hand in the sixth but Konta’s aggression caused the competition to go to deuce. The Brit attacked to gain the AD point and take a 5-1 hold to serve things out. She didn’t waste time reaching two match points where Brengle made her earn it forcing Konta to deuce. The 26-year-old put too much speed on her shots when on match point that gave Brengle life. Konta didn’t give any more as her fourth attempt ended on a ball wide of the line by Brengle that brought an end to the match in one hour and six minutes. She finished the day with 24 of 35 on the first serve with eight aces on the day. Her second serve was on point landing 10 of 14 clearly showing her desire to do well.
“I knew it was going to be tough coming into her and as we saw she gets a lot of balls back and it does but I’m very pleased with the style of play that I wanted out there,” Konta said during her on court interview. She’ll look for more of the same Thursday when she goes against another American in Bernarda Pera in very hot weather. “I love the Australian heat,” she said when asked about the conditions upcoming. “I think it’s one of the nicest rays of sunshine that you get here so I’m looking forward to that.”
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