NEW YORK : Johanna Konta collapsed with apparent heat illness but shook off the scare to beat Tsvetana Pironkova in three sets Thursday to reach the third round of the US Open.
The 13th seeded Briton said she was “a little embarrassed” by all the drama, but expected to be ready to go against Switzerland s Belinda Bencic in the third round on Friday.
“I m doing everything that I can to recover well and try to get myself into a state to be ready to compete again,” said Konta, who said she d gone through a similar scare on court before.
“Basically my heart rate spiked and I couldn t really control my breathing,” she said.
“I started hyperventilating. I started shaking. That s why I went down on the ground, because I was quite violently shaking.”
Konta was serving to try to force a second-set tiebreaker when she was stricken, slumping to her knees at the baseline.
She sat on the court with bags of ice on her body until medical personnel arrived and took her blood pressure.
“I feel like my whole body is in shock,” she told the doctor. “My heart rate went up. My vision became blurred.”
When play resumed after a medical timeout, Konta surrendered her serve and the set. She then departed for a lengthy toilet break that included a long walk from court 13 to the nearest convenience.
She returned somewhat refreshed, promptly broke Pironkova and closed out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory.
