Johanna Konta’s joy of breaking into the top 20 was short-lived as she suffered a second round exit in the Nottingham Open. “It is not just the grass-court season that you aim to do really well, for me I aim to do really well after the grass-court season and the rest of my career”.
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Konta produced a determined display but seemed to be troubled by a back injury throughout the hard-fought match.
“Normally I put more weight on my right side and I wasn’t putting as much weight on my right side (because of the injury) so it was affecting me a bit, but I played through because I felt it was something I could manage and that’s why I finished the match”.
Zheng, who Konta beat on the way to the Australian Open semi-finals earlier this year, showed some terrific form as she rebounded from going 2-0 down in the first set to break her opponent twice and take it in 45 minutes.
A routine win looked on the cards for Barty after serving up a bagel in the first set but she was sent to three sets, eventually winning 6-0 4-6 6-4.
Konta sent down four double faults as she struggled on her serve and could not prevent Zheng from closing out victory in the second set.
Zheng will play Tara Moore in the quarter-finals following the Briton’s surprise 6-2 6-2 defeat of eighth seed Christina McHale.
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Tamira Paszek also made the last eight as she was the beneficiary of Magdalena Rybarikova’s retirement, with the score at 6-3 3-1.
