The world No.47 dropped serve only once in her opening-round Australian Open clash against Britain's Johanna Konta but still found herself on the wrong end of a 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (10-7) scoreline in a marathon lasting two hours and 51 minutes.

This year marks the first time that the Australian Open has opted for first-to-10 points tiebreakers to decide matches, rather than the traditional advantage system.

It means all four majors now use different formats to decide close encounters.

"I don't mind breakers in general; I just wish there was more consistency with the slams," said the 25-year-old Tomljanovic.

"I feel like everyone just wants to be different.

"But I didn't lose today because of that."

Instead, Tomljanovic was left to run a lack of aggression at crucial moments in the third set against the Australian-born Konta, who embarked on a thrilling run to the semis at Melbourne Park three years ago.

"I hate losing in general but here it's even worse," said Tomljanovic.

"I had a tough first round, she's a great player and she played a high level throughout the whole match.

"In the third set I was always the one up on serve and I didn't get any looks at all on her serve.

"I thought I just hung in there and in the important moments I maybe wasn't aggressive enough.

"I guess she took control more or wanted it more."

Konta's second-round opponent will be Spanish No.18 seed Garbine Muguruza, who ousted Zheng Saisai from China 6-2 6-3.

Australian Associated Press