Johanna Konta’s honeymoon on clay ended in an hour-and-half on Court Manolo Santana on Tuesday when the world No 3 and two-time Madrid champion, Simona Halep, soaked up her best shots in the early exchanges then knocked her out of the second round, 7-5, 6-1.
It was a disappointing loss for the British No 1, who reached the Rabat final then, with only a few hours sleep after a quick flight to Spain on Sunday, blew Alison Riske away in two sets on Monday.
“It was a tough match,” Halep said courtside. “She had a lot of confidence and played really well in the first set. In the second set, I did it pretty well. I’m better [after picking up a cold at the weekend] but not close to 100%.”
Konta should have won the first set, blasting winner after winner, but her serve began to wobble and the certainty of her ground strokes deserted her at all the wrong moments. The first set lasted an hour, the second half as long.
After failing to build on her encouraging start, she quickly found herself love-30 down in the second set, a wonderful chance of an upset slipping from her nervous grasp by the second. Parity was a memory as Halep won 15 points in a row before Konta grabbed one at the net in the fourth game, then surrendered her serve with a hapless forehand that ballooned over the line.
There was a sliver of encouragement when she broke back for 1-4. She looked to be struck on the head by an object on the changeover – perhaps a stray ball from one of the ballkids – but it was the least hurtful blow she endured all match, most of them self-inflicted. She saved a couple of break points in the sixth game, one with an ace. Her final effort was a backhand long.
It all looked so promising in the first 20 minutes. Konta struck first to break in the third game and, thrashing unreachable forehands wide and deep, looked irresistible. Her serve was so precise and strong she had conceded just a single point, with two love holds.
Halep strove for the white lines but kept missing by inches. While Konta’s tennis was virtually error-free, she over-pumped a couple of forehands to let the Romanian off the hook in the seventh game. That was the turning point. Under quality pressure, Halep levelled at 4-all, and Konta’s advantage had evaporated in the space of five minutes.
After half an hour, Konta needed to hold to stay in a set she should have already put in her back pocket. Down love-30 at 4-5, she could only stand rooted to the spot as a magnificent running forehand gave Halep two set points. An ace saved the first, and another big serve to the backhand got her to deuce. The drop-shot she has worked hard on recently dug her out of a hole for 5-all.
A blinding forehand from deep clipped the line to give Konta the first of three break point in the 11th game, but the moment passed when she put a limp backhand into the tramlines. Konta, striving for the tie-break, blew four points in a row to hand Halep set point and handed her the frame with a backhand wide right on the hour.
The second set was a blur of mistakes and missed chances.