Translating…
By Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport at Melbourne Park
| 2020 Australian Open |
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| Venue:Melbourne ParkDates:20 January to 2 February |
| Protection:Hear on BBC Radio 5 Dwell Sports Further and on-line; Dwell textual drawl on selected matches on the BBC Sport site and app. |
British #1 Johanna Konta made her earliest exit from the Australian Open by losing to Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur within the first spherical.
Konta, seeded 12th, used to be beaten 6-4 6-2 by the animated world number 78 at Melbourne Park.
The 28-365 days-feeble used to be playing most productive her 2d match in nearly five months as a consequence of of a knee damage.
Compatriot Kyle Edmund used to be also knocked out with a 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-4) loss to Serbia’s 24th seed Dusan Lajovic.
Konta struggled to resolve as Jabeur knocked out Britain’s best likely-ranked player.
“It be critical to recognise the season is lengthy,” Konta told BBC Sport.
“I’m now not going to high-tail or run in opposition to with out phrase packing it all in. Things will arrive with time and placing the factual work in.”
Four assorted Britons play later on Tuesday, which contains a packed agenda with 96 first-spherical matches desiring to be done after the gap day used to be washed out by heavy rain.
Katie Boulter, Heather Watson, Harriet Ride and Cameron Norrie ought to also play as deliberate with a noteworthy-improved climate forecast.
Rusty Konta unpicked by Jabeur
Konta, a 2016 semi-finalist at Melbourne Park, went into this 365 days’s opening Sizable Slam having played most productive one match since September’s US Open.
A tendonitis-enjoy inflammation of the knee, which she suffered within the latter phases of closing season, has needed to be fastidiously managed.
Even supposing she did now not survey timid by the pronounce in opposition to Jabeur, Konta did stamp indicators of rust and used to be unable to choose her game to the ranges that took her to the French Open semi-finals, along with the Wimbledon and US Open quarter-finals, closing 365 days.
Konta, who acknowledged afterwards she used to be “contented” with how her knee felt, hit 19 unforced errors, whereas Jabeur also punished her with 19 winners.
The Briton’s wait on came below instant force from Jabeur, who’s ready to unsettle opponents along with her form, and he or she needed to construct a break point within the gap game.
After steadying herself, an erratic game where she struggled on her first wait on enabled Jabeur to strike and pick the gap verbalize.
Konta, backed by a wholesome selection of British followers, came out for the 2d verbalize with renewed reason, playing more aggressively to crash within the gap game.
Alternatively, she used to be unable to back that up with a back and from that time Jabeur took regulate to capture in precisely one hour and two minutes.
Evaluation
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Johanna Konta looked a lengthy manner off the tempo in what used to be most productive her 2d match since 4 September.
She would possibly maybe presumably own played in Adelaide closing week, but took the choice to fetch the weight on her troublesome knee more gradually.
If truth be told, being attentive to her post match, it is obvious she used to be now not 100% determined she would positively play in Melbourne when she boarded the airplane to Australia.
Konta will now want to wait and see. A first-spherical exit here, coupled along with her decision to skip Fed Cup in 2020, manner the earliest she would possibly maybe well return to action would be in St Petersburg in three weeks’ time.
Alternatively, it would possibly maybe maybe presumably honest be too slack to get a verbalize within the scheme, even when she wants one, with Konta’s next scheduled tournament now not starting in Dubai till 17 February.
As for Jabeur, she played with admirable regulate – enjoy a better-ranked player dealing successfully with a animated opponent.