No drama as Konta races into US Open fourth round
Johanna Konta of the United Kingdom returns a shot to Belinda Bencic of Switzerland during her third round Women’s Singles match on Day Five of the 2016 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 2, 2016 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Mike Hewitt/Getty Images/AFP
Two days after collapsing in the New York heat en route to a three-set second-round victory, Britain’s Johanna Konta reached the US Open round of 16 with no fuss.
The 13th-seeded Briton, who broke through for her first WTA title in Stanford in July, overwhelmed 24th-seeded Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1.
She fired 29 winners against Bencic, who bore little resemblance to the youngster who reached the quarter-finals in 2014.
“I felt I did a good job just staying focused on the things I want to execute and how I wanted to play,” Konta said. “I definitely made it hard for her to get into the match, I felt.
At no time during her 52 minutes on court did Konta seem to feel any ill-effects from the second-round scare that saw her slump gasping to the court, her body shaking, as she served to try to force a second-set tiebreaker in what evolved into a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday.
Konta, who said she was embarrassed by the “drama” of the incident, was pleased that she was able to move on successfully.
“I think I’m still constantly working on recovering,” she said. “I think it’s a management process more than anything. But I feel good. I feel well enough to play.”
She has now matched her best US Open performance — last year’s run to the round of 16 after qualifying into the main draw.
Next up as she tries to improve on her best Grand Slam showing, a semi-final run at the Australian Open in January, is Anastasija Sevastova, the 48th-ranked Latvian who toppled French Open champion Garbine Muguruza before beating Kateryna Bondarenko in the third round.
“I’m really happy with how I was able to just really focus on the match at hand and the work at hand and then put all else out of my mind.”
