Konta crashes out of Sydney International

Defending champion Johanna Konta has joined the exodus of seeded stars at the Sydney International with a first-round loss to Agnieszka Radwanska.

Johanna Konta of Great Britain

Johanna Konta's Australian Open preparations have suffered another setback. (AAP)

Johanna Konta remains upbeat heading to the Australian Open despite having her Sydney International title defence last just one match.

Former champion Agnieszka Radwanska ousted the world No.9 in straight sets - 6-3 7-5 - in a repeat of last year's final to add to the exodus of seeds at Olympic Park on Tuesday.

Konta's defeat follows the early eliminations of third-seeded French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, fifth seed Kristina Mladenovic, sixth-seeded US Open winner Sloane Stephens and eighth seed Anastasija Sevastova.

Konta had been playing her first match since retiring from her Brisbane International quarter-final last week with a hip complaint.

But the Sydney-born star showed no signs of discomfort in her 1hr 48min centre-court workout - and offered no excuses or concerns afterwards.

"Actually, it was good. So that was a really positive thing for me today, that it held up fine and I recovered well from that. So that's a good thing," Konta said.

"Also, I think coming off the back of last season, there is still a lot of challenges that I will be facing these next few weeks, few tournaments, and to really try and find the way that I want to play.

"I'm also actually looking forward to that."

Radwanska will play American qualifier Catherine Bellis for a quarter-final berth.

Czech Barbora Strycova is the first woman into the last eight after removing Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-1 6-1.

Strycova will play the winner of Tuesday night's all-Australian affair between Ashleigh Barty and Sydney wildcard Ellen Perez.


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Source: AAP



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