Australian Open: Johanna Konta plays down shock exit

The ninth seed had been tipped as one of the contenders for the title in a wide open field after reaching the semi-finals and quarter-finals in the last two years.

Konta looked in good form in her opening win over Madison Brengle but struggled to find her game in very hot conditions at Melbourne Park and came up against an inspired opponent, who claimed a 6-4 7-5 victory.

Pera, a Croatian-born American ranked 123, had never played in a grand slam tournament let alone won a match before arriving in Australia and appeared to be going home after losing to Viktorija Golubic in the final round of qualifying only to be given a second chance when Margarita Gasparyan withdrew.

There was no doubt the 23-year-old played well above her ranking but this was a poor performance from Konta, who said: “I think she played very inspired and I didn’t quite do as much as I wanted. I think in the points I did okay, and I think I stayed quite strong. But I don’t think I did enough with my service games, and I don’t think I did enough with my returns.

“It’s a bit frustrating, but I’m still taking good stuff from this. I don’t feel, by any means, it’s a massive catastrophe. I play every event to be there until the end, so I definitely don’t want to be going home this early.

“But I think in terms of building myself back up again and then playing the way I want to play, I think I keep moving forward.”

Konta’s immediate plan was to head home before linking up with the Great Britain Fed Cup team for a week of Europe/Africa Zone competition next month.

Maria Sharapova is relishing the chance to take on Angelique Kerber in the third round.

It will be a meeting of the two former champions left in the women’s draw, with Sharapova lifting the trophy a decade ago and Kerber winning in 2016.

The Russian overcame 14th seed Anastasija Sevastova 6-1 7-6 (7/4), while Kerber defeated Donna Vekic 6-4 6-1.

Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza lost 7-6 (7/1) 6-4 to world No 88 Hsieh Su-wei.