Wimbledon 2018: Johanna Konta makes hard work of Vikhlyantseva to proceed into second round

London: British number one Johanna Konta made hard work of beating 103rd-ranked Russian Natalia Vikhlyantseva 7-5 7-6(7) in her opening match at Wimbledon on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_4658441” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Johanna Konta is England’s best hope at Wimbledon, with Andy Murray pulling out just days before the tournament. AP[/caption] Konta, a semi-finalist last year, lost control of a match she seemed to have in her pocket and was mightily relieved to escape a sticky Court Two with victory, having squandered five match points in the second-set tiebreak. With Andy Murray missing, Konta, seeded 22, and men’s 21st seed Kyle Edmund are shouldering the hopes of the home nation — a burden Konta seemed to be handling well for a set-and-a-half against tricky 21-year-old Vikhlyantseva. She broke serve at 5-5 on her way to taking a tight opening set and had points for a double-break in the second set when Vikhlyantseva served at 2-4. Konta failed to push home her advantage, however, and dropped serve in the next game. Vikhlyantseva then held and Konta found herself in a difficult situation at 4-5 when she failed to punish a short ball and saw a backhand winner flash past her. She saved the set point with a superb deep forehand from wide but a poorly executed attempt at a dropshot handed Vikhlyantseva another chance to take the match into a decider. Konta saved that one too but in the tiebreak she let a 6-2 lead evaporate and then served a double-fault at 7-6. She got the job done at the sixth attempt though with an easy volley into an open court. Dominika Cibulkova will provide a tougher test for Konta in round two.