Monday 20 May 2019 07:33, UK
Johanna Konta is still searching for the first clay court title of her career after a straight-sets defeat to Karolina Pliskova in the Italian Open final.
The British No 1 admitted she was never given a look-in by her Czech opponent as she fell to a 6-3 6-4 defeat just two weeks after also finishing runner-up in Morocco.
"I just thought she (Pliskova) didn't really have a let-down in the whole match," she told the WTA website.
"She played very consistently. I found it quite hard to get a footing in the match, which is credit to her.
"She plays with big shots, quite flat, and big serves. It can feel sometimes like you are fighting an uphill battle, and that was the case today."
Nevertheless Konta, who turned 28 on Friday, will take plenty of positives from her unexpectedly strong clay court season ahead of this month's French Open, in which she is yet to win a main draw match in four attempts.
Konta's semi-final victory over in-form world No 4 Kiki Bertens had marked the Briton's first victory over a player ranked in the top five since beating Simona Halep at Wimbledon in 2017.
But her hopes of repeating the feat against Pliskova eroded after the Czech broke in the second game of the first set and proceeded to make just five unforced errors to move ahead in the match.
Konta's response was concerted as the second set went with serve before she had the opportunity to establish a 4-3 lead.
However, despite saving three break points, she was unable to fend off Pliskova a fourth time as the Czech made what proved to be a decisive move.
She made it 5-3 after Konta had fought her way back to deuce and although the Briton held in the penultimate game, Pliskova converted her third championship point to take the title and secure the number two spot in the new rankings on
Monday.
For Plsikova, it's the perfect tune-up for the French Open which gets under at Roland Garros next week, the second major of the year after her run to the last four in Australia.
After a couple of early first-round defeats on the clay in Stuttgart and Madrid, she composed herself for an impressive run in the Italian capital to claim a second title of the year.
"I just hope to take the tennis I was playing here to Paris," Pliskova said.
"There's going to be a chance for me if I play this way. Nobody really gave me chance for this tournament even me.
"Before the tournament, I was not super confident, not thinking about the final at all. I was just happy with every match which I played. So it's little bit like a miracle for me."
