Local hope Konta falls to Saisai in Nottingham 2nd round

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) Second-seeded Johanna Konta of Britain bowed out in the second round of the Nottingham Open when she lost to Saisai Zheng of China 6-4, 7-5 on Thursday.

Konta, at a career-high world ranking of No. 18, hurt her hip and needed on-court treatment twice in the second set. She called the injury ''a small niggle'' and said she would play in Birmingham next week.

Saisai reached her first quarterfinals since February following a run of losses in five consecutive main-draw opening matches.

Ashleigh Barty of Australia defeated Andrea Hlavackova of Slovakia 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal matchup with top-seeded Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.