Johanna Konta crashes out of US Open with three-set defeat to Sorana Cirstea

Johanna Konta crashed out of the US Open in the second round with a bitterly disappointing three-set defeat to Sorana Cirstea.

The British number one looked in total control at a set and a break up, but struggled as the steely Romanian upped her game, eventually taking the match 2-6 7-6 6-4.

Seeded at number nine, Konta entered the tournament at Flushing Meadows in good form having reached the semi-final of the Western & Southern Open last week, where she was beaten by Victoria Azarenka.

In defeat, however, Konta misses a real opportunity to make it deep into the second week, with Naomi Osaka the only player in the world top 10 remaining after Karolina Pliskova's early exit and Ash Barty and Simona Halep's decision not to take part.

The British number was made to save six set points in her first set against Watson, but it was a thoroughly more comfortable opener this time around as she broke Cirstea on three occasions to take it 6-2 in under 40 minutes.

Konta set the tone in the opening game of the match as she broke Cirstea, largely gifted by her opponent's three double faults. And though the Romanian broke back in the fourth, it was then one-way traffic as Konta reeled off four consecutive games.

The world number 13 looked to race clear in the second set as she immediately broke Cristea, whose catalogue of errors was seemingly growing by the game. However, where the world number 77 somewhat collapsed in the first, she proved an entirely different proposition in the second.

Konta applied serious pressure towards the second set conclusion, but Cirstea managed to find her form when it counted, saving four break points in her final two service games to drag the Brit into a tie-break.

A fired-up Cirstea looked a totally different player as she powered through Konta's defence to win the tie-break by seven points to three and take the match into a final set decider.

With the final set going to serve, the decisive moment came in the seventh game, where Konta saved five break points but couldn’t save the sixth in a game lasting over 10 minutes.

To add insult to injury, Cirstea then crucially held from 0-40 down. And though Konta saved two match points in the following game, Cirstea then comfortably served her way to victory.

It was only last year that Konta made a career-best US Open quarter-final. For this year, however, her journey in New York comes to an end.

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