Jo Konta was left searching for crumbs of consolation after her recent Australian Open form deserted her and she suffered a shock second-round defeat.
The framing of a straightforward overhead on match point just about summed it up for the British No 1, who was sent spinning out of the Australian Open by unheralded Croatian-American Bernarda Pera.
The No 9 seed, a semi and quarter-finalist in the last two years, was shocked 6-4, 7-5 in the second round by a player for whom this is a first Grand Slam.
Jo Konta was dumped out of the Australian Open in the second round by Bernarda Pera
Pera holds her hands to her face in disbelief at the end of the match after No 10-ranked Konta
Pera played well above her ranking of 123, but there is still no sign of the momentum that has now been missing from Konta since Wimbledon.
‘I think it was kind of two parts of the match in the sense that I think she played very inspired and I think I didn’t do enough at the beginning when I had little windows to my stamp on the match,’ said Konta.
‘It’s a bit frustrating, but I don’t feel, by any means, it’s a massive catastrophe. I play every event to be there till the end, so I definitely don’t want to be going home this early.
‘I think my serve definitely let me down a little bit today. I think when I’m not serving the way I want to, I don’t think I’m putting as much pressure on them in their service games, as well.’
Konta found herself in a real battle during the opening set on Court 2 against the American
Pera powers a backhand return against Konta as she impressed in the opening set on Thursday
Konta struggled to deal with the world No 123 as she dropped the match’s opening set 6-4
Her next appointment is representing Britain in the Fed Cup Euro-African playoffs early next month.
‘I’m actually looking forward to just continuing to play. I mean, I didn’t play very much in the last six months of last year, so I think I’m where I’m meant to be right now in my level.’
That is putting a rosy gloss on things, and Konta’s ranking will take a heavy hit after losing to a player who took advantage of some wildly erratic play towards the end from the British No 1. Australia, which has proved a happy hunting ground for her in the past, has largely provided disappointment this month after a promising start in Brisbane.
Pera’s return was surprisingly effective against the Konta serve, and she forced seventeen break points in all against just two for her opponent. Konta, who became increasingly alarmed as the second set slipped away, made 29 unforced errors but could hit only 14 winners.
The Brit is pumped up after hitting a winner during the first set of the second-round match
Pera returned brilliantly as she forced Konta on the backfoot with some powerful strokes
Konta shouted out as she went to ground in the first set but didn’t require a medical timeout
Pera only made the main draw, having lost in the last round of qualifying, due to a late dropout and this was very much new territory for her.
She had one previous top-50 win to her name, the lesser known Pliskova twin, Kristyna, and looked as comfortable as second round draw that you could realistically ask for.
However, on a steaming hot morning with temperatures well into the nineties it became clear early on that she can properly play. In the opening set she was not afraid to hit out, often gaining impressively consistent depth on her shots.
Her rangy lefthanded game was causing problems and she converted one of her two break points to go 4-3 up, while Konta, who hit 14 unforced errors in the opening set, could not manage to create on.
Konta looks to the ground as she struggled to live with Pera’s tenacious play on Court 2
Pera played brilliantly as she claimed the biggest scalp of her career by defeating Konta
Konta got ahead for 2-0 in the second thanks to two consecutive double faults, but then handed the advantage straight back.
In constant trouble on her serve, Konta went 3-4 down in the second set when she left too little margin for error on mid court backhand and put it wide on a fourth break point.
The British No 1 got her to 30-30 in the next game but that was answered with two straight aces.
Konta walks off the court after her shock exit in the second round of the Australian Open
The pair embrace at the net as the American lucky-loser sprung a major second-round shock
Konta then needed to save three match points in the next game, managing to send down a decent serve on each one, with Pera’s return proving less effective when it most mattered.
But, having reprieved herself, the British player was immediately back in trouble in what turned out to be a calamitous eleventh game. She made an almighty hash of a straightforward overhead at 0-30 and then, having saved two break points, slipped on the baseline as she crouched for a backhand and missed the ball altogether.
You feared the worst in the next game when Pera sent up a defensive lob, and the ball flew out off the frame to give the outsider by far the biggest win of her career.