Sitting pretty on a 14 match winning streak, Johanna Konta hasn’t lost a match since Wimbledon. After an excellent grass court season where her last three losses came against Maria Sharapova (Wimbledon), Belinda Bencic (Eastbourne) and Karolina Pliskova (Birmingham), Konta has gone on a superb run of form that has seen her crack the world’s top 100. The Brit won back-to-back ITF titles in Granby and Vancouver with top two 100 wins in the latter against Yanina Wickmayer and Kirsten Flipkens.
Konta kept the good run going with three wins in US Open qualifying and a first round win over Louisa Chirico, 6-3 6-0. Hands up, I called that one very badly wrong and didn’t give enough respect to Konta’s recent form. There were a couple of lengthy deuce games in the match which Konta won. The Brit also saved nine break points. The stats are a sign of a player with a lot of confidence right now.
On Tuesday, Garbiñe Muguruza won her first match since reaching the Wimbledon final with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Carina Witthoeft. In fact, it was Muguruza’s first ever win at the US Open. The Spaniard avoided the cull of seeds with a decent performance after two straight set losses in Toronto (to Lesia Tsurenko, 7-5 6-1) and Cincy (to Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-4 7-6). It was revealed last week that Muguruza had split with her long-term coach, Alejo Mancisidor. The timing seemed strange and it was a surprise, still so soon after her greatest triumph on tour.
Muguruza and Konta last played in Eastbourne where Konta scored a superb win, 6-4 4-6 6-3. Muguruza won their only other match which took place in Luxembourg in 2012, winning through 7-5 in the decider. This is a really dicey match-up for Muguruza against an in-form player withb buckets of confidence. In this run though, Konta has yet to play someone ranked within the world’s top 75. Although Konta will likely push Muguruza hard, i’d give the slight edge to the Spaniard who has raised her level significantly at the Slams this year.
Prediction: Muguruza d. Konta in 3 sets
Moo's Tennis Blog 
I love the way Konta bounces the ball before serving.
LikeLike
my lord what have i just witnessed in the bencic v doi match?! that is one of the greatest collapses/comebacks ive seen in terms of drama, choking and coming back from the dead. bencic in floods of tears at the changeover to serve to stay in the match having just missed 8 set points. goes 0-40 down, via a racket smash, an umpire row and more crying. doi chokes big time, bencic bites back, and somehow takes the set on a tiebreak. crazy.
LikeLike
Princess much
LikeLike
It was almost Serena like!
LikeLike
Sounds like I missed a fun match haha
LikeLike
Bencic was a little passive at times but credit to Doi because she played super aggressive! I think winning a match like that will probably do Belinda more good than bad. Venus better watch out.
LikeLike
Agree… coming through matches like this is huge for the confidence.
LikeLike
Yeah. Whereas Venus could’ve done with an easy straight sets win
LikeLike
I think Bencic’s ailing drama also took Doi out of her zone eventually. It adds to the external chatter you are trying hard to keep out. Few players, like Serena, can tune out these things and go on to finish the game.
LoL @ Belinda , behind her calm cheerful demeanor , a petulant girl is lurking. Similar to when Mattek-Sands was aggressively rushing her on grass. It is one of her Achilles’ heel. Aggressive attacking her and covering your bases takes her out of her comfort zone. High intensity short rallies.
LikeLike
She’s only 18 at the end of the day. People forget that Justine Henin, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf were all stroppy and bratty on court when they were younger. And Victoria Azarenka still acts like a teenager on court.
LikeLike
Just watching back Serena vs Kvitova at Wimbledon 2012. It’s so strange hearing the commentators talk about Serena as the underdog and questioning her fitness/intensity/return of serve. I guess this match would be the defining moment of her comeback.
It’s also shocking how unfit Kvitova looked back then to now. She had flabby arms and what looks like a beer gut! I don’t remember her looking SO out of shape. Has she had her breasts reduced?
LikeLike
Commentators always talks nonsense during tennis matches. Mute the tv.
LikeLike
Well done to Konta,in a tight battle which took over 3 hours to complete,also the longest women’s match at the USO in the Open era:) defeating Garbine in 3 sets,I think she will play Petkovic next.
LikeLike