Defending champion Johanna Konta yesterday suffered a reversal of last year’s final when she was bundled out in the first round of the Apia Sydney International by Agnieszka Radwanska.
The Pole had been overpowered in 82 minutes by the Briton in the final last year, but repaid the favor on Ken Rosewall Arena at the Olympic Tennis Centre as she raced to a 6-3, 7-5 victory.
Neither player was able to dominate with their service games in the first set, with Konta’s second serve barely a factor as she won just two of her 11 second serve points and Radwanska converted three of her five break opportunities.
Konta again had trouble holding serve in the second set, but showed signs of a fightback when she broke while trailing 4-1 in the second, but then could not push on as Radwanska sealed the victory in 1 hour, 49 minutes.
The first-round loss continues some worrying early season performances for 26-year-old world No. 9 Konta.
She struggled to get going in her first two matches last week in Brisbane before she withdrew from her quarter-final with a hip injury.
However, she on Monday told Sydney organizers that she was fit, having withdrawn from Brisbane because she could not keep playing, but also had an eye on next week’s season-opening Grand Slam.
Radwanska, who was upset by American qualifier Sachia Vickery in the Auckland quarter-finals last week, is now to meet another American qualifier, Catherine Bellis, in the second round in Sydney.
It was not a good day for Taiwanese in the first round of the women’s doubles.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Peng Shuai of China — the 2013 Wimbledon and 2014 French Open champions — fell to a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Shuko Aoyama of Japan and Yang Zhaoxuan of China, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia were defeated 6-4, 7-5 by fourth seeds Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands and Johanna Larsson of Sweden.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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