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Johanna Konta had to fight hard to get past Lauren Davis at the French Open on Wednesday. The Brit had a solid start against Davis, but saw her rally in the second set and force a decider that nearly got away from her. In the end, the Brit held on in the match to win 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 on Court One at Roland Garros.
The Brit continued her dominance on clay by having a solid start to the tournament. She easily defeated Germany’s Antonia Lottner in straight sets.
While Konta and Davis never played on a professional level, they have history in ITF where Konta won two out of three against the American.
The current status of both has the British No.1 at a heavy advantage in hope that she can produce her way to clinching a career second round victory in Paris.
For the first six games, Konta and Davis held serve against one another with the level of difficulty rising for each of them.
The sixth was the first time they went to deuce which saw Davis put together a strong show of defense on serve to hold the game and remain firm on her end.
Konta received the same challenges from her service in the seventh but denial of the AD point on deuce to the American was her reward to up the ante.
She took a 5-3 lead breaking Davis’ serve while attaining every AD point chance until the third was enough.
The ball was in her hands to serve for the set gaining two chances to put it away but was forced to deuce by the American.
Konta held her ground and achieved the AD point after three breaks to close the first in 50 minutes. Despite committing 17 errors which let Davis gain leverage her first serve, where she made 32 of 38, was enough to stand as the stronger contender.
Davis had something to say about that as she regrouped before starting the second with a break of the 26th seed.
The American consolidated the break with a hold to take a short lead with a high level momentum. Konta’s attempt to put the brakes on Davis didn’t come to pass in the third which shrouded her confidence in whether or not she could come back.
Davis answered by breaking her for the double giving her a real chance at forcing a decider. She made it 5-0 swiftly sitting a game down of pulling off a shutout against the Brit. She avoided the bagel but soon faced Davis, who was on a mission to make her last serve in the set count.
Gaining two set points, the American got the win on an error from Konta to go the distance after 29 minutes. The first serve had improved greatly for Davis while also improving her return game and lowering the errors.
Konta knew that with little time left in the match, she had to do the same thing as her opponent and regroup. Konta responded with a terrific service game allowing Davis one point in the first.
She tried to keep up the level of her attacks and go for the break but the 25 year old refused to let it happen.
They went to deuce where holding the AD point was trying for both of them. After five breaks and nearly ten minutes elapsed in the second, Davis hit a return long of the baseline to give Konta a two game buffer.
A shutout for Konta became a key moment in the set as she showed determination to make this run one way and deny Davis any significant change to the course. The fourth took the shape of a break to love opportunity until Davis secured a point and drew an error from Konta.
She made the mistake of hitting the return too hard which landed behind the baseline to drop to 0-4. Konta continued to roll along hold her serve in the fifth gave her a chance at earning a bagel against Davis who served to stay alive.
Konta drew errors from the American but soon found herself running for tough cross courts which soon led her to play at deuce. Davis gained the AD point and never let go to notch her first of the set.
It was clearly an uphill battle and with Konta on the ball, the chances of continuing were slim to none. She fell behind the serve of Konta who had two match points but lost both giving Davis life at deuce.
She secured another victory for the break and went back to serve hoping to dictate further. She got it done with a third straight win that put Konta on notice to secure the win or go down hard.
It finally came to her in the eight where she had to go to deuce with Davis but found a way to gain the elusive match point and make her way into the third round after 2 hours and 10 minutes.
The slip up nearly cost the No.1 Brit a chance to continue what was already becoming a successful run. She’d get another chance to keep going against Viktoria Kuzmova in the third round.
