Croatian-American Bernarda Pera Shocks World No.10 at Australian Open
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Bernarda Pera (Screenshot)
Croatian-American tennis player Bernarda Pera has caused the upset of the women’s singles at the Australian Open on Thursday in Melbourne.
The Zadar-born 23-year-old, who is ranked No.123 in the world, has knocked out British No.1 and world No.10 Johanna Konta to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
Pera took out the match in straight sets 6-4 7-5.
“It’s a bit frustrating but I’m still taking good stuff from this. I don’t feel, by any means, it’s a massive catastrophe,” Konta said after the match.
The victory, however, was Pera’s biggest of her career.
The reaction says it all! 😱
Bernarda #Pera 🇺🇸 makes 3R of her first Grand Slam after a 6-4 7-5 win over [9] Johanna #Konta! #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/zXLvuQLZZ0
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 18, 2018
After losing in qualifying, Pera only made it into the main draw as a lucky loser, after another player withdrew through injury. It is her first Grand Slam of her career.
Bernarda was born in Zadar on the Croatian coast and moved to New Jersey at the age of 16 and now plays for the United States because her father is a citizen.
She now spends a lot of time training in Croatia with her childhood coach, Lovro Roncevic.
She has won eight singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Women’s Circuit. In 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world no. 133.
Pera now faces Barbora Strycova in the third round after the Czech 20th seed beat Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena 6-3 6-4.
