• Briton beats Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in first round• Fellow Briton Harriet Dart loses to Ana Bogdan 6-3, 6-1Brad Gilbert was hardly going out on a limb this week when he declared that any one of 15 players could win the women’s title at the
US Open and Johanna Konta would have to agree with him after battling her own game and that of Daria Kasatkina to reach the second round.
The 16th seed bamboozled Russia’s highest-ranked player (42) to take the first set in half an hour, hitting with power and certainty off the ground to break serve almost at will and pinning Kasatkina deep with her metronomic serve.