Monterrey Open: Konta breaks 2020 duck with Clijsters win
JOHANNA Konta has broken through for her maiden win in 2020 after a disappointing start to the WTA Tour season. Her first win came in the first round at Monterrey where she played the returning Kim Clijsters. The Belgian 36-year-old returned to the Tour for the second time a week early and has copped Konta and Garbine Muguruza as her first round opponents. Showing she had not lost all of her talent though, the 41-time title winner pushed the world number 16 all the way in two sets before Konta prevailed, 6-3 7-5.
It was just a couple of breaks that were the difference in the end, with Konta breaking in the final game of the match to seal the deal in an hour and 25 minutes. Clijsters showed off her powerful serve and hard hitting though, serving nine aces and winning 68.2 per cent of her first serve points. But Konta was in red-hot form, serving at an 83.3 per cent efficiency with an 80 per cent first serve point-winning percentage and only dropping 12 points in total off her serve.
Top seed, Elina Svitolina had a much easier path to the Round of 16 with a 6-3 6-2 win over Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic. Tenth seed Lauren Davis also had a quick match, downing Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 6-0 6-3 in just 69 minutes. Even quicker was Tania Zidansek‘s eye-opening smashing of seventh seed and last year’s runner-up Victoria Azarenka, claiming a 6-2 6-2 win in just 67 minutes. Other winners were Canadian young gun Leylah Fernandez, Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko, Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus, Germany’s Tatjana Maria and Russia’s Anastasia Potapova.
ROUND OF 32 RESULTS:
[1] E. Svitolina (UKR) defeated D. Kovinic (MON) 6-3 6-2
[2] J. Konta (GBR) defeated [WC] K. Clijsters (BEL) 6-3 7-5?
T. Zidansek (SLO) defeated [7] V. Azarenka (BLR) 6-2 6-2
[10] L. Davis (USA) defeated [Q] N. Podoroska (ARG) 6-0 6-3
L. Fernandez (CAN) defeated [Q] S. Voegele (SUI) 7-6 6-2
A. Rus (NED) defeated [LL] V. Flink (RUS) 4-3 RET
T. Maria (GER) defeated H. Watson (GBR) 7-6 3-6 7-5
K. Bondarenko (UKR) defeated S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP) 4-6 6-0 6-2
A. Potapova (RUS) defeated [Q] G. Gatto-Monticone (ITA) 6-4 4-6 6-4
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