Konta need not have anxious as Williams, the oldest player in the draw at 35, never got to grips with Konta’s serve and accurate ground strokes and she took the first set with a beautifully hit ace straight down the middle.
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Konta is playing in the Australian Open main draw for the first time.
A late wobble, which used to be a regular feature of her game, made the score respectable but there was to be no comeback for Williams as Konta finally served out.
The BBC and Buzzfeed News published reports Monday alleging match-fixing had gone unchecked in tennis.
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.
Murray thought authorities could be doing more to combat the potential for corruption. “So in that sense I’m a bit of an anomaly”, she said. Murray had Amelie Mauresmo, a new mother, back in his coaching corner this week and was happy not to get any mid-match news from home. He has said he’ll leave immediately, regardless of the stage of the tournament, if his wife, Kim, goes into labor in London with their first child.
Williams suggested that a fightback may be in the offing by reducing the deficit to 5-2 and creating break points for 5-3, but Konta held her nerve to complete an outstanding performance on Rod Laver Arena.
“Whenever I step out on the court, whether it is at Wimbledon, whether it is here or in Wuhan or in Timbuktu, it really is just about enjoying where I am at that time and regardless of who I’m playing, to really knuckle down and take care of things on my end”.
While Williams perished, Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza had no such troubles earlier in advancing to the second round with a 6-0 6-4 win over Anett Kontaveit of Estonia.
Konta will face either Carina Witthoeft or Zheng Saisai in the second round.
There were two upsets on the women’s side, with No. 2 Simona Halep and seven-time Grand Slam victor Venus Williams losing in the first round.
Milos Raonic followed up his victory at the Brisbane International with a clinical, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 first-round win over Lucas Pouille on the second day of the season’s first major.
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No. 5 Rafael Nadal was playing fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in a rematch of the epic semifinal here in 2009.
