Konta, ranked 47th in the world, inflicted what was only Williams’ eighth first-round exit in 62 grand slam appearances. I did when I was younger, and I was bad at it. I know what I’m good at, and I know things I’m not going to excel at.
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Wearing a canary yellow pleated skirt and matching mid-rift bearing shirt, displaying her pierced naval, Williams was composed but not her usual clinical self during the draining workout. “I think I played unbelievable – the fifth set from the break that he made me, I just started hitting winners”.
Indeed, this latest victory by Konta will give fans booking corporate hospitality for The Championships, Wimbledon more reason for excitement as she continues to be the flag-bearer for British women’s tennis.
Venus’s 69th Grand Slam was abruptly ended in the first round by Britain’s Johanna Konta, and she was later fined US5,000 for skipping her mandatory press conference.
She added: “My sister still lives here, so obviously I still have a family connection here”.
Williams, however, didn’t disappoint her fans with her tennis skills as she cruised for a 6-4 7-5 conquest of her opponent, and booked a second round date with Taiwan’s Su-Wei Hsieh.
Other seeded players advancing included No. 12 Belinda Bencic, who had a 6-3, 6-3 win over Timea Babos, and No. 13 Roberta Vinci, who beat Irina Falconi 6-2, 6-3.
“Leaving here is all positive I think”, Evans said. Her current training base is at Gijon in northern Spain and she has two Spanish coaches, Esteban Carril and Jose-Manuel Garcia.
Another big name to depart was the second seed in the women’s draw, Simone Halep, who crashed out 6-4, 6-3 to China’s Zhang Shuai, who had to pre-qualify for the tournament and finally won a match in a Grand Slam at the 15th attempt.
Inglis, 18, went down 6-3 6-0 to No. 21 seed Ekaterina Makarova from Russian Federation, a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park past year.
Considering the legacy of her early years in Australia she said: ‘My ability to deal with the heat – I was lucky to get exposed to the heat.
Now Konta, faced with one of a phalanx of improving Chinese players, has to show once more that her sudden improvement a year ago was not a temporary surge. Melbourne Park has been a happy hunting ground.
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Stan Wawrinka, who beat Nadal in the 2014 Australian final, and four-time runner-up Andy Murray advanced, along with Lleyton Hewitt, the two-time major victor who is playing his 20th and last Australian Open tournament before retiring. To date, Sharapova has lost 17 straight matches against Williams, including three Grand Slam finals.
