Just when it looked like Jo Konta was going to get on one of her Grand Slam rolls she found herself ambushed at the US Open on Thursday night.
Konta has never lost in the third round of the Major, but will not even get that far after being dumped out by world No 77 Sorana Cirstea.
This turned out to be the British No 1’s second and final match of the tournament after she was beaten 2-6 7-6 6-4 by the 30-year-old Romanian.
Jo Konta crashed out the US Open in the second round after suffering defeat to Sorana Cirstea
The No 9 seed, and last year’s quarter-finalist, became one of the most prominent casualties of the week, and will have been taken aback by the sustained quality produced by her opponent.
Konta had her opportunities and could have done some things differently, but would not have expected the assault from the baseline that abruptly stopped what had looked a procession into the last 32.
After a comfortable first set Cirstea put her serve under sustained attack and held her nerve in the closing stages of the decider by continually ripping groundstroke winners.
Konta had led by a set and a break against 77th-ranked Cirstea only to lose out 2-6 7-6 (5) 6-4
‘She played better than me, she’s had some great results and is capable of playing great tennis,’ said a slightly bemused Konta afterwards. ‘Surprised? No. Frustrated obviously. These are the best players in the world and on a given day they are capable of playing amazing tennis and that’s what she did.
‘I did the best I could and tried to find a way but she was better.’
The tipping point in the decider came Cirstea converted a fifth break point for 4-3, and then impressively fended off a counter attack in the next game as Konta had three break points of her own.
The British player was guilty of giving Cirstea too much pace to feed off without offering much to disrupt her rhythm. Yet it was nonetheless surprising that someone whose career peak is behind her was able to maintain such pinpoint accuracy with her rasping drives.
Konta dug deep to save two match points but Cirstea did not allow her any further chances
Konta is now left to negotiate the various quarantine rules about returning to Europe before she decides whether to play in Rome’s clay court Italian Open.
This is not going to be like last year, when she reached the last eight at three Grand Slams, but it is not that she looks hopelessly out of form.
It was a desperately tight match, although one thing for certain was that, on an outside court at near empty Flushing Meadows, there would not be the drama which accompanied their first-ever meeting.
That was in the notorious Fed Cup tie in Constanta three years ago when Konta was left in tears, due to the abuse she received from the crowd and Romanian captain Ilie Nastase, who ended up being escorted out of the stadium.
Konta’s early break was pulled back but she started causing damage on her return of serve
For all her discomfort Konta did end up winning then, and she repeated that dose against the same player later in 2017 on grass.
It looked like previous results as Cirstea began with a series of double faults that helped give the British player an immediate advantage.
The early break was pulled back but it was not long before Konta was causing severe damage with the consistent quality of her return of serve, with her new coach, the Swede Thomas Hogstedt, looking on admiringly.
Both players hit a heavy ball but Konta was winning the slightly one-dimensional slugging contest in a match that was always going to be fast and furious.
Cirstea produced her best tennis on big points and rescued two break points in the second set
What the UK No 1 could not have reckoned with was that her opponent would start to serve more like Serena Williams as the second set went on.
Konta still manoeuvred herself into a position to win in straight sets. At 4-4 she had two break points, one of which was dumped into the net with a backhand.
She created two more at 5-5 but the Romanian, who was increasingly producing her best tennis on the big points, saved them with a service winner and an ace.
In the tie-break she forged ahead for 6-2 and although three set points were saved it was, fittingly, clinched with another ace.
Konta’s dubiously long break had allowed Cirstea to sit there and contemplate between sets
Konta then took a dubiously long toilet break that lasted eight minutes which allowed her opponent to sit there and contemplate. It also gave the No 9 seed time to mentally reset, but ultimately to no avail.
As the seeds fall – No 10 Garbine Muguruza also went on Thursday night – Naomi Osaka is progressively looking like the player to beat in the women’s draw.
She has seven different face coverings in her bag to use this fortnight. It seems eminently possible she will get to use them all.
Naomi Osaka is now progressively looking like the player to beat in the tough women’s draw
They are emblazoned with names of police violence victims and on Wednesday night she took to the court wearing one honouring Elijah McClain, who was killed earlier this year in Colorado.
The 2018 champion has established herself as favourite for the tournament with her early form, and therefore it would be no surprise if she gets to play seven singles matches. Her second ended in the 6-1 6-2 dismissal of the dangerous Italian, Camile Giorgi.
She explained after her win why she had chosen McClain as the latest name on her masks: ‘I feel like I still don’t think his name is very put out there compared to, like, George Floyd or Breonna Taylor. For me, today was very special in the way that I wanted to represent him very well.’