Wuhan Open: Johanna Konta's miserable run of form continues as she suffers early exit at hands of Ashleigh Barty

The 26-year-old Briton, who has not won a match since before the US Open, saw victory snatched from her grasp by Australia’s Barty at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open

Konta suffered a disappointing early exit in Wuhan (Getty)

Johanna Konta might still have work to do to qualify for the year-end WTA Finals in Singapore after suffering her fourth successive defeat here on Monday at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.

The 26-year-old Briton, who has not won a match since before the US Open, saw victory snatched from her grasp by Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, who trailed 5-3 in the deciding set but recovered to complete a 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 victory.

“I had to work very hard to find my level,” Konta said afterwards. “I feel quite proud of myself in the way I managed to play myself into that match because it was very difficult. I will definitely take that as a good thing, but obviously to lose such a close match, it is quite sad.”

Not too much has gone right for Konta since she reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon . The world No 7 has won only two matches in her subsequent five tournaments, both of them in Cincinnati five weeks ago.

In her last three outings Konta has lost to Aleksandra Krunic, the world No 78, in the first round of the US Open, to Barbora Strycova, the world No 25, in her opening match in Tokyo last week and now to Barty, the world 37.

Konta is currently eighth in the qualifying table for the year-end finale in Singapore, where the field comprises the eight players who have won the most ranking points during the year. She has a substantial lead over her closest rival in the list, but with plenty of points available both here and at next week’s China Open in Beijing in particular the Briton could yet be pipped at the post, as she was at the end of last year.

Konta was unable to arrest her slump in Wuhan (Getty)

Just as she had in Tokyo the previous week, Konta appeared to pay the penalty for a lack of match practice after having a first-round bye. Barty, who has climbed 234 places in the world rankings since the start of the year, showed the benefit of having played her first-round match 24 hours earlier.

On a hot and sticky evening on the second show court Konta made a poor start, making a succession of errors as she struggled to find her range. Barty, meanwhile, struck the ball well from the start and took the opening set in just 26 minutes.

Konta, however, responded well. Cutting out her errors and making regular inroads into Barty’s service games, the Briton took the second set with a single break of serve in the seventh game.

Barty has been on a good run of form recently (Getty)

When Konta broke again in the third game of the third set and went on to lead 5-3 it seemed that she was in control, but Barty levelled at 5-5 when her opponent missed a smash on break point. The Australian lost the first point of the tie-break but kept admirably composed to win it 7-3.

Cutting through her disappointment, Konta tried to see the positives from her recent poor run. “The last three matches that I’ve played, I don’t think any of them have been under two and a half hours,” she said.

“I’ve played incredibly tough and close matches. I think I am making the most out of even these three matches. I definitely get my court time. But all of us players are continuously working towards just finding this match-tightness, that feeling of instantaneous decision-making.”

Konta attempted to take the positives from her defeat (Getty)

She added: “I’m coming up against different challenges right now, different circumstances, I’m in a different position. I think if you look at all the players in the top 10, in fact anywhere in the game, they all go through periods of finding themselves and finding their level and finding their game. It’s my turn to do my time.”

Konta was by no means the only seed to go out. Petra Kvitova, the defending champion, was on court for three hours and 34 minutes before losing 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 to China’s Shuai Peng in the last match of the day, which finished at half past midnight.

Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys, the champion and runner-up respectively at the US Open, also fell at the first hurdle in their first matches since Flushing Meadows. China’s Wang Qiang beat Stephens 6-2, 6-2, while Keys went down 6-2, 7-6 to a fellow American, Varvara Lepchenko.

Stephens was another big name to crash out early (Getty)

Keys had treatment during the match for pain in her left wrist. The world No 11 has had two operations on the wrist in the last nine months.

“I can’t really do any damage to it,” Keys said afterwards. “It’s just really uncomfortable nerve pain. Once you have nerve pain and it starts, it’s really hard to calm down. I’m just trying to do whatever I can to prevent it from getting that way.

“The good news is that there is nothing really wrong with it. It’s just lack of strength. Unfortunately when you have surgery in the middle of the season, you don’t really have a lot of time to properly treat it to the point of it being 100 per cent again.”

Stephens said she had felt tired. “Asia is always tough for me,” she said. “The time change is always tough for me. It's hard for me to adjust.”

Angelique Kerber’s miserable run continued when she was beaten 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 by France’s Caroline Garcia. Kerber began the year as world No 1 but is currently at No 12 in the rankings, having failed to win a title since last year’s US Open.