GREAT Britain’s great white hope, Johanna Konta‘s season continued to spiral after the third seed slipped up in the first round of the Top Seed Open in Lexington. Konta fell to Czech Marie Bouzkova in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 in two hours and one minute after dropping a match to a lowly ranked compatriot in a lead-up exhibition tournament.

Konta joined Heather Watson as first round losers at the new hard court tournament, designed as a warm-up for the US Open in a few weeks time. In fairness to the world number 15, she did not play that badly, winning 73 per cent of her service points off a 61.7 per cent serving efficiency. She created seven break point opportunities, but could only seize one, as her opponent converted three from 11. The Brit struggled off her second serve, winning just 39.1 per cent of her second serve points, as Bouzkova played out of her skin to be dominant off both her first and second serve on her way to a memorable victory.

The same could not be said for Watson, who will not be reaching for the replay of her match anytime soon, going down 6-2 6-1 in just 66 minutes to Jennifer Brady. Brady is ranked just two places higher than Watson (49th to 51st), but it looked like a wide gap in their head-to-head with the 25-year-old American taking control from start to finish and winning every possible statistic along the way. Brady dropped just 14 points off her serve for the entirety of the match, winning 61.5 per cent in total, breaking five times to zip taking advantage of her home surroundings.

It was a mixed day for the Americans at Lexington, with Jessica Pegula toppling Russian veteran, Vera Zvonareva in three sets, 6-1 5-7 6-4, but other United States representatives, Madison Brengle, Lauren Davis and Cate McNally all lost. Zvonareva won her first title when Pegula was just nine-years-old, but the now 26-year-old was on-song against her 267th ranked opponent, serving six aces and winning 67.2 per cent off her first serve.

She joined seeds, Aryna Sabalenka, Magda Linette and Ons Jabeur in the second round. Sabalenka toppled Brengle in three sets, 6-1 6-7 6-2, Linette got up over Davis 6-2 6-3, and Jabeur triumphed over Cate McNally 6-2 6-4. Centre Court action is not to be missed tomorrow with a stunning four Grand Slam winners on show. There is also a massive American feel, with Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Sloane Stephens out there, while Coco Gauff is another beginning her campaign, and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Canadian Leylah Fernandez among the other exciting prospects on day two.