Konta, who reached the fourth round of the US Open past year, enhanced her growing reputation further by thrashing the eighth-seed, dropping just six games in a 79-minute rout on Rod Laver Arena. Her run-in to Melbourne had been anything but promising (two matches played, two matches lost), but clearly, she was just building up a head of steam. Konta had failed to qualify on her last three visits to Melbourne Park. The 35-year-old didn’t strike her serve with authority – her average first-serve speed was less than 100mph – and she also struggled to match baseline blows with the in-form Konta.
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Chris McKendry and Chris Evert discuss Venus Williams’ first-round loss to Johanna Konta at the Australian Open.
“I retired because I had a baby and I didn’t really think to come back”, the Ukrainian said after the match. “I’m happy if they won’t end up being on this court, actually”, Federer said after his second-round win over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
French Open champion Wawrinka was leading 7-6 (2), 6-3 when his opponent Dmitry Tursonov retired with what appeared to be an upper leg injury.
“It is not like previous year when I arrived here playing bad and feeling myself not ready for it”, said Nadal.
Seven-time major victor Venus Williams lost the only final she reached at the Australian Open – to her sister back in 2003 – and her 16th trip to Melbourne Park finished in a first-round 6-4, 6-2 loss to Johanna Konta.
On another sizzling day in Melbourne, sweat-drenched Murray doused the challenge of exciting German prospect Alexander Zverev 6-1 6-2 6-3 to get his campaign under way.
The No. 7-seeded Nishikori, a two-time quarterfinalist here, dropped serve just once when he was serving for the second set but recovered to win a tight tiebreaker.
“In terms of a decorated tennis player and the biggest champion that I’ve ever played, yeah, she definitely is”, Konta said.
Varvara Lepchenko of Allentown, Pa., beat No. 31 Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3, and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic defeated No. 32 Carolina Garcia of France 6-2, 6-4.
“I am excited about today, I played so well”.
And retired Briton Arvind Parmar told how he was once offered a cash-stuffed envelope to lose a match, one hour before he stepped on court at a Challenger tournament in the Netherlands.
She was ruthless and relentless in making the 43-ranked Alison Van Uytvanck look less than ordinary with a blistering display of baseline hitting: It took 53 minutes to leave the German woman with the humiliating 6-0, 6-0 scoreline.
The governing bodies for tennis presented a unified front in rejecting the claims, and highlighted the fact five players and an official had received life bans after investigations from the Tennis Integrity Unit which was set up in 2008.
In the final game, Konta staved off a Williams break point before closing out the victory.
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The 34-year-old Federer hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since Wimbledon in 2012.
