Wimbledon 2017: Konta eases through after early nerves

Johanna Konta is over the first hurdle at Wimbledon after she exacted swift revenge on her French Open conqueror Hsieh Su-wei and reached the second round.

Konta lost to world No 113 Hsieh at Roland Garros less than five weeks ago, but a repeat never looked likely for the British No 1 on Court One where she cruised to a 6-2 6-2 victory.

There was also little sign of the spine injury that forced Konta to withdraw from Eastbourne last week, and the world No 7 will face Croatian Donna Vekic or Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva in round two.

“I’m very happy to have come through that, she’s a very tricky player,” Konta said.

“I lost a close match to her at the French Open so I was looking forward to playing her again and trying again to beat her. I’m happy to have come through that.”

Many experts have Konta down as a genuine contender for the title at Wimbledon following runs to the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the US Open last 16.

But despite her remarkable rise up the rankings, this was only Konta’s second singles win at Wimbledon in six appearances in the main draw.

The pressure of a home tournament is perhaps a primary factor and there was some evidence of nerves again, particularly early on when her usually dependable ground-shots regularly missed their mark. But Konta grew into the contest and by the end her serve and booming forehand were both firing.

Heather Watson joined Konta in the second round after a 6-1 7-6 (7/5) win against Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska.

British men’s No 4 Aljaz Bedene battled his way into round two after a marathon slug-fest with veteran Ivo Karlovic.

Bedene and the big-serving Croatian, seeded 21st, could not be separated after four attritional sets, all tie-breaks, without a break of serve.

Yet after four hours and 25 minutes, and 61 held service games, it was Slovakia-born Bedene who finally broke in the 14th game of the decider for a remarkable 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (8/6) 6-7 (7/9) 7-6 (9/7) 8-6 victory.