MELBOURNE, Australia -- Outplayed and outmaneuvered, ninth seed Johanna Konta suffered her earliest ever Australian Open exit Thursday when she was beaten 6-4, 7-5 in the second round by unheralded American Bernarda Pera, a 23-year-old who only made it into the draw as a lucky loser.
Her stunning defeat leaves only Kyle Edmund to carry British hopes in Melbourne, with Andy Murray, who flew home today, recuperating after hip surgery.
A semifinalist on her debut two years ago and a quarterfinalist last year, Konta had come into the event under an injury cloud, having ended the 2017 season with a foot problem before suffering a hip strain in the Brisbane International two weeks ago.
But on Thursday, under searing heat as temperatures headed towards 38ºC (100ºF), Konta wilted, beaten by the better player as Pera, who was born in Croatia and moved to the United States when she was 16, played tennis well above her ranking of 123.
"It's a bit frustrating, but also I think I'm still taking good stuff from this," Konta said. "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."
Left-handed, with a wicked forehand and an aggressive two-handed backhand, Pera forced Konta into a series of errors and took the game away from the No. 9 seed.
Konta won the biggest title of her career last April when she triumphed in Miami before going on to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon. However, her year petered out with a series of first-round exits as form and confidence deserted her.
In total, Pera smashed 29 winners past the Konta racquet and the only trouble she had came when she tried to close the match out. Having broken on the way to a 5-3 lead in the second set, she missed three match points on the Konta serve and was promptly broken when she served for the match at 5-4.
But Konta, usually so solid, was still missing routine groundstrokes and she was immediately broken again. Second time round, Pera made no mistake, clinching victory when Konta top-edged a smash, a shot that in some ways summed up her day.
Konta said the lack of matches under her belt may have been a factor.
"It's not like I had a bad day," she said. "There are things that I did well today. So it wasn't like I wasn't out on court. I competed and my opponent beat me. So there is credit due to her. But I think when you have that kind of match fitness, you are able to come through those necessarily difficulties that you find in every match, every day that you play."
"I was more nervous to serve out the first time, when I lost the game at 5-4," Pera said in a television interview. "I felt a little less nervous at 6-5. I am so happy that I was able to finish it."
Pera, who originally lost in the final round of qualifying, was given a spot in the main draw only when Margarita Gasparyan withdrew through injury. This is her first Grand Slam event but on this kind of form, she will give 20th seed Barbora Strycova, her next opponent, a real run for money in the third round.
After her first-round win, the 23-year-old said she already had plans to spend money on "girls' stuff - bags, shoes". With a third-round cheque of AU$142,500 (US$113,500) now assured, she should have even more options.