Johanna Konta: British number one gets 2018 off to winning start in Brisbane

  • Posted: Jan 01, 2018

British number one Johanna Konta came from a set down to get 2018 off to a winning start with victory over Madison Keys at the Brisbane International.

Konta, who has not won since August, defeated the American 4-6 6-4 6-3.

Playing her first match under her new coach Michael Joyce, the 26-year-old dropped her serve at 4-5 in the first set.

The win ends a run of five successive defeats for Konta since the Cincinnati Open.

“It was my first match in quite a while and it was a tough first round, Madison is a great player,” Konta told BT Sport. “She has a big game so when my chances came I had to take them.”

The Briton took advantage of a single break of Keys’ serve midway through the second set to level the match.

She then took her opponent’s serve in the opening game of the deciding set to seal the victory comfortably.

Konta, who has not played since October because of a foot injury, named American Joyce as her new coach in December.

Joyce reached a high of 64th in the world as a player, and spent six years as part of Maria Sharapova’s team. He worked with Victoria Azarenka in 2017.

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