Great Britain’s Johanna Konta has been forced to retire from the Brisbane International. She was playing her quarter-final against 3rd seed Elina Svitolina when an apparent right hip injury ended her match. Svitolina moves to the semi-finals 1-6, 7-6, 3-2, ret.
Konta came out firing, with a barrage of heavy hitting giving her the early break and putting the pressure on the World No.6. Konta added a further two breaks as she won six of the first seven games in the match.
Slowly but surely though Svitolina grew into the contest, improving her second serve to ensure she did get broken in set two. Indeed, there was only one break point (against the Konta serve) as both players produced assured service games.
The tiebreak was a close as the rest of the set had been, with Svitolina edging to a 8-6 record to force a deciding set. Konta immediately left the court following the loss of the second set to receive treatment for a right hip injury, returning for the start of the final set.
Despite staying in touch with her opponent through the first five games, Konta stopped play at the change of ends after the fifth game, ending the contest.
Svitolina will play the winner of the quarter-final match between qualifier Kaia Kanepi and 2nd seed Karolina Pliskova.
Konta is the second high-profile retirement in the Women’s tournament in Brisbane this year, after top seed Garbine Muguruza was forced out of her second round match with Aleksandra Krunic due to cramps in the third set.
The news that Konta was forced to retire with a hip injury will be viewed with concern by British tennis fans. The British No.1 on the Men’s side, former World No.1 Andy Murray’s participation in the Australian Open is in serious doubt after he withdrew from the Brisbane International before playing a match. Like Konta, Murray’s problem is an injury to the hip, an issue that has kept him out of competitive action since a quarter-final defeat to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon.
