Britain: British tennis player Johanna Konta suffered a health scare during the opening round of the WTA Top Seed Open in Lexington on Monday (August 10). She requested medical attention just a few minutes into her 4-6, 4-6 first-round loss to the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova.
Konta later explained that she is prone to palpitations that can speed up her heartbeat. It was for the fourth time she had been affected during a tournament or practice. “My heart rate shoots up for no reason, we didn’t have a long point, I wasn’t gassing in any way in my lungs,” Konta said.
“I was having all the checks. I am as fit as a fiddle but it can happen. It took a while to settle down until about 4-3 in the first set, but then it did settle down and I was able to concentrate on the tennis.” However, the 29-year-old was the highest-profile casualty in the opening round
Other seeded players who made it to the second round are Polish sixth-seed Magda Linette beating the United States’ Lauren Davis 6-2, 6-2, and eight-seed Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who emerged victorious defeating US’ Caty McNally 6-2, 6-4. Second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus was taken to three sets by Madison Brengle before claiming a 6-1, 6-7 (5/7), 6-2 win.
This week’s WTA event was the first tournament to be held in the USA after five months break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
