Johanna Konta To Play as Lucky loser In Sydney International Having Earlier Withdrawn

Johanna Konta To Play as Lucky loser In Sydney International Having Earlier Withdrawn

By: Francis Joseph

British number one Johanna Konta will play at the Sydney International as a lucky loser, having earlier withdrawn from the event with a neck injury.

Konta, 27, retired from her second-round qualifying match against Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova when 4-1 down.

But after treatment - and US Open champion Naomi Osaka's withdrawal - Konta accepted the chance to play world number nine Kiki Bertens on Monday.

Sydney-born Konta, ranked 37th in the world, reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2016 and was a quarter-finalist in 2017, though she exited last year's tournament in the second round.

She hurt her neck in the warm-up on Sunday and retired just 18 minutes into the match after speaking to physio Belinda Smith at courtside.

The tournaments in Sydney and Hobart are the final WTA events before the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year, begins on 14 January.