Konta remains consistent with third consecutive loss

Johanna Konta maintained her poor form at the French Open on Tuesday with her third consecutive loss in the first round.

ritain's Johanna Konta returns the ball to Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh during their tennis match at the Roland Garros 2017 French Open on May 30, 2017 in Paris. Thomas Samson / AFP

That the 2017 defeat is a shock is a testament to her progress since she went down to the 88th ranked Czech player Denisa Allertova. Back then in May 2015, Konta was rising through the ranks and had come through three qualifying rounds.

May 2017 and the story is somewhat different. She is in the top 10 and considered a contender for the major crowns especially after runs to the latter stages of the US Open and Australian Opens over the past two years. But the world 109 Su-Wei Hsieh from Taiwan accounted for Konta after more than two hours of an enthralling encounter.

“I definitely created some opportunities during the match,” said Konta. “But I didn’t convert them. There were times where she did play incredibly well. There were some points where I didn’t do much wrong, she was just inspired. She surprised me with how solid she was on the clay and how well she moved.”

Perhaps it shouldn’t have been too big a surprise. Hsieh won the women’s doubles title at the French Open three years ago.

But the disparity in singles rankings was in evidence in the opening exchanges. It was one way traffic as Konta broke early and surged into a 3-0 lead. Hsieh got on the scoreboard to reduce the arrears but Konta won the next three games wrapping up the set after 26 minutes with her first ace of the match.

Hsieh was more dogged in the second set as she unveiled her roster of slices and spins. “The top seeds are so big and strong and hit the ball so hard,” said Hsieh. “I had to try something different.
“The first set went past so quickly. At the end of it I told myself that I was starting again.”

She was the first to offer up break points though. Konta squandered the two chances. Hsieh repaid the favour by wasting five when Konta was serving to make it 4-4. Konta then had three opportunities to break for a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the match.

Hsieh held to take a 6-5 lead and was given a peek of the set when a loose Konta forehand went wide. Konta managed to salvage the game to take the set into a tiebreak where she was pulverized 7-0.

Hsieh held her nerve to take the decider 6-4 to pull off what she described as one of her best wins. in a singles.