Konta searching for first win of 2016 after Hobart exit

Eastbourne tennis player Johanna Konta still awaits her first win of the 2016 season after was knocked-out of the Hobart International following a first-round defeat to Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.
By The Newsroom
Published 11th Jan 2016, 13:24 BST
Updated 11th Jan 2016, 13:28 BST
Johanna KontaJohanna Konta
Johanna Konta

The British No 1 suffered a topsy turvy 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 loss as she missed chances at key moments against her opponent.Konta failed to convert five first-set points and couldn’t capitalise on three break of Cibulkova’s serve in the second. The early signs looked bad for for the Eastbourne based player as she lost the first four games of the match.

She struggled to cope with the third seed’s power from the baseline.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, from 5-1 down she emarked upon a recovery to take the first set to a tie-break. Konta dominated the early exchanges of the shootout and raced into a commanding 6-1 lead.

However, a capitulation of epic proportions allowed Cibulkova to fire seven successive points to take the breaker 8-6. The second set was a bizarre affair of contrasting fortunes for both players and one that contained seven break of serves. Konta began the second set well and looked in complete control as she broke to go 2-0 and 3-1 to the good.

But frustratingly each time she broke down on her own serve straight away before another exchange of breaks saw it head to 5-5.

Cibulkova then secured an important fourth break in the 11th game. she came back from 0-40, to leave her serving for the match.

Konta gave herself a chance as she forced it to 30-0 but the Slovakian served it out to book her place in the second round.