The 26-year-old Johanna Konta will play in her first WTA event since losing in the semis at Wimbledon against Venus Williams. The world No. 7 and the No. 1 Brit is having another consistent season as her top 10 presence is by now a well-established fact. A late bloomer but with an excellent work-ethic as a foundation. Last year, she had an early start of the North American summer swing by competing at Stanford, a Premier event. She went on winning the women's singles title. Now, after an extended schedule over the past few months, she decided to skip Stanford thus no defending work being necessary.
When it comes to hard court, Konta had quite a breakthrough earlier this year winning two WTA event on this surface. First, it was the Premier event in Sydney prior to the Australian Open, then it came her biggest WTA success to date, the moment when she captured the title in Miami ( Premier Mandatory level).
Konta shares her quarter of the draw with Kerber
In Toronto, as the seventh seed in the tournament, Johanna Konta received a bye for the opening round. Still, she shares the second quarter of the draw with the former world No. 1 Angelique Kerber to whom she may play in the quarterfinals. Konta will start her North American campaign facing the winner of an interesting clash. Shuai Peng (2017 Nanchang winner) will take on Ekaterina Makarova ( 2017 City Open champion) for a place in the round of 32.
If she reaches the round of 16, Konta may face Dominika Cibulkova (2016 Singapore champion) while the quarterfinals may produce Kerber or Kvitova for the other end of the court. The semis may oppose Konta with the current world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova while the final may bring Garbine Muguruza or Simona Halep on the other side of the net.
Johanna Konta has become a genuine WTA star
Over the past two years or so, Johanna Konta has been on a constant upward trend. Her being inside the top 10 is just another confirmation of her progress. In 2017, her numbers are looking quite solid as she is 34-10 in win/ loss ratio. Aside from those two titles in Brisbane and Miami, she had some great runs at Majors too.
At the Australian Open, she reached the last eight stages for the second year in a row while at Wimbledon Championships she went one step forward reaching the last four stages. US Open is the ultimate test for the 26-year-old. At the last Grand Slam of the year, Konta's best result to date is reaching the fourth round stages (2015, 2016). This time, she may go at least one step forward.
