Yorkshire’s Francesca Jones loses on Grand Slam debut in Melbourne

Yorkshire’s Francesca Jones suffered a Grand Slam debut defeat at the Australian Open and questioned the use of a new line-judge system in Melbourne.

Bradford 20-year-old Jones questioned the new electronic device after falling 6-4 6-1 to hard-hitting American Shelby Rogers.

The Australian Open is the first grand slam to be played without any line-judges on the court in an effort to reduce the number of officials in line with coronavirus protocols.

Jones described one particular point early in the second set, when an apparently long Rogers forehand was called in, as “extremely questionable”, and added: “Massive, massive momentum change at that point.

“They really need to check that system. I have seen a couple of mistakes that have been shown.

“I much prefer human error than systematic error. It’s a new system and I understand why it’s being used, but I think that definitely needs to be revised.”

Johanna Konta’s challenge ended abruptly as the British No 1 was forced to retire from her first round match with Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan.

Konta said it was too early to discern the extent of the abdominal injury which forced her to withdraw shortly after winning the first set of her match against world No 104 Juvan.

Having received treatment midway through and at the end of the first set, Konta proceeded to lose the first eight points of the second before abruptly walking to the net and calling it a day.

Konta, who said she was “shocked” by the development, added: “Right now I need to assess kind of where I am with my body in the next 24, 48 hours and then I’ll have a better idea of what I have and what I’m dealing with.”

Heather Watson is the last remaining Briton in the women’s singles after she shrugged off two weeks of enforced hotel quarantine to see off Kristyna Pliskova 7-6 (4) 7-6 (3).

Watson said: “It made the victory today sweeter because we’d been through a lot the last few weeks. It was really tough mentally I would say the most.”

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