Lucky loser Bernarda Pera notched up the biggest win of her career, stunning the 9th seeded Johanna Konta of Great Britain in straight sets in the second round of the Australian Open on Thursday.
Before the encounter began, Pera’s progress into the third round of the tournament was least expected. However, the little-known American seized her opportunity against the 2016 semifinalist, hitting 26 clean winners and managing to overcome numerous nervous moments to serve out the most memorable victory of her brief career on her fifth match point.
Hardly a few fans know that Pera failed to make it to the main draw after she was beaten by World No. 63 Viktoriya Golubic in the final round of qualifying. She only sneaked in at the last minute when Margarita Gasparyan of Russia withdrew from the tournament.
However, Pera began the match as if she had nothing to lose and not like a nervous lucky loser, who had no chance whatsoever against one of the pre-tournament favorites for the title. Konta struggled with both the sweltering heat and windy conditions prevailing on Show Court 2 and even though she saved 13 of 17 break points, she couldn’t prevent Pera from winning the match in exactly 100 minutes.
While Pera looked confident from the outset, Konta appeared tentative in her play. Although Konta had realized that her 23-year-old challenger possessed the weapons that could be dangerous for her, it was simply too late by then. An aggressive Pera wasn’t relenting at all and Konta was finding extremely hard to even compete in the match at that point of time. Eventually, Pera went on to grab the first set in 39 minutes with Konta looking down and out.
Both players exchanged service breaks at the beginning of the second set. Despite the initial exchange of breaks, it was quite visible that Konta was struggling to find her range as she botched up a drop-shot in the third game. Konta saved break points in the fifth game before eventually losing her serve in the seventh when Pera forced her to make a backhand error.
And in spite of Pera’s failure to serve out the match in the following game, Konta almost immediately handed the advantage back to the girl from the United States. This time around Pera didn’t falter as she took full advantage of Konta’s mounting errors to cause a massive upset in the women’s draw of the event.
After her stunning victory, Pera said courtside: “I was more nervous to serve out the first time, when I lost the game at 5-4. I felt a little less nervous at 6-5. I am so happy that I was able to finish it.”
