Melbourne | Konta cruises to victory in round one

Britain’s Jo Konta sailed through her first round match against America’s Madison Brengle in straight sets.
It was a dominant display by the British number one who over the course of the match served eight aces and hit 37 winners.

I thought it was a great first round for me to fight through and battle through and stay strong in the way I wanted to play out there and I feel I did that. Overall I’m happy with how I was able to compete. Jo Konta

And she looked at home on the court as she raced to a 6-3 6-1 victory in just over an hour.

Konta said: “ I was actually really enjoying being out there – it was a nice day; it was sunny; it was quite a full stadium.

“I thought it was a great first round for me to fight through and battle through and stay strong in the way I wanted to play out there and I feel I did that.

“Overall I’m happy with how I was able to compete.”

The first set saw Konta take advantage of an early break point opportunity and from the start of the match she was playing attacking tennis, coming into the net and stopping Brengle from getting into too many lengthy rallies.

The British number one said: “I knew I had stay very strong in my identity and how I wanted to play.

“She gets a lot of balls back as you saw in some of those points – I think that’s definitely in her comfort zone.

“I wanted to make sure I was playing most of the match in my comfort zone.”

And despite Brengle halting Konta’s run momentarily and breaking back in the eighth game to prevent her serving the set out at 5-2 up, the World number 10 immediately broke back and took the first set 6-3.

Much like the first set the second began with an early break for Konta, who at 2-1 up then went on a five game run to clinch the second set.

There was a brief fight back from Brengle in the final game of the second set as she saved three match points, Konta taking it on the fourth.

A FRIENDLY AFFAIR
Konta and Brengle have competed alongside each other on the WTA tour for a number of years and have formed a friendship which has seen them share a love of not just playing tennis.

Konta said: “We have been friends for a long time, I remember since the Junior US Open in 2007, we just get on really well.

“We share passions in books and for Christmas’ and Birthdays she’s like always getting me books. And yeah I’m always getting her Molton Brown – it’s a nice trade off.”

MORE BLUEBERRIES PLEASE
The night before this match Konta shared a tale on Twitter of missing out on blueberries after leaving them at the supermarket once she’d bought them.

She laughed as she said : “Oh my goodness I don’t want to talk about it. Literally I only went to buy blueberries I don’t know where my mind was. Honestly I messaged everybody, literally everybody on my team – ‘has this happened to anyone else?’

“I only bought blueberries, two pints – it’s $5 I won’t get back but it’s more a betrayal in my own mind I feel so upset about.”

And so the question is did this first round win today make up for it and help her move on from “blueberrygate”?

Konta said lightheartedly: “Clearly I’m not over the blueberry debacle.

“No I’m happy to come through today and am looking forward to playing again on Thursday – I now need to go again to buy blueberries.”