Johanna Konta, a rank outsider to win the French Open a month ago, entered the semi-final after a brilliant performance proved far too good for Sloane Stephens of US at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
Johanna Konta
Paris:
The British No 1 hammered last year’s beaten finalist 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and eleven minutes in what must have been the best match she has ever played under pressure.
In windy and warm conditions she perfectly mixed up aggression and defence, with her serve demoralising the world No 7. In the second set Konta won 22 out of 23 points on serve, only dropping a point with a double fault in the final game.
She will play Croatian 31st seed Petra Martic or Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the last four in Paris.
Konta will be playing in her third Grand Slam semi-final - on a third different surface - after runs to the same stage at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.
And she will look to go one better than Jo Durie - the last Briton to reach the women’s semi-finals 36 years ago - by reaching Saturday’s final.
“To play on the new Chatrier court against a top player and at the level I did, I’m really proud of myself,” said Konta.
“It’s hard to say if it was one of the best matches of my career, but dealing with conditions out here and against an opponent like Sloane who can run away with it, I was pleased to get her on the back foot and control the points a little bit.”
Konta’s resurgence on the clay has been one which few people would have predicted at the start of the clay season, when she was ranked 47th in the world.
The former world number four has shown her pedigree on grass and hard surfaces, but had never won a main-draw match on the Paris clay until this year.
Signs of her improved fortunes were evident as she reached two WTA finals at the Morocco Open and Italian Open - and that form has continued at Roland Garros.
Now she has won 15 matches on the surface in 2019, meaning only Martic stands alongside her in terms of clay-court victories on the tour this year.
Linking up with new coach Dimitri Zavialoff at the end of last year has paid dividends, Konta once again showing increased trust in her ability to cause opponents problems with her hard-hitting game.
Yet, although Konta’s confidence has been evident throughout the tournament, the manner of this 71-minute victory against someone of Stephens’ pedigree left those on half-full Chatrier murmuring with surprise.
Johanna Konta, a rank outsider to win the French Open a month ago, entered the semi-final after a brilliant performance proved far too good for Sloane Stephens of US at Roland Garros on Tuesday.
The British No 1 hammered last year’s beaten finalist 6-1, 6-4 in an hour and eleven minutes in what must have been the best match she has ever played under pressure.
In windy and warm conditions she perfectly mixed up aggression and defence, with her serve demoralising the world No 7. In the second set Konta won 22 out of 23 points on serve, only dropping a point with a double fault in the final game.
She will play Croatian 31st seed Petra Martic or Czech teenager Marketa Vondrousova in the last four in Paris.
Konta will be playing in her third Grand Slam semi-final - on a third different surface - after runs to the same stage at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.
And she will look to go one better than Jo Durie - the last Briton to reach the women’s semi-finals 36 years ago - by reaching Saturday’s final.
“To play on the new Chatrier court against a top player and at the level I did, I’m really proud of myself,” said Konta.
“It’s hard to say if it was one of the best matches of my career, but dealing with conditions out here and against an opponent like Sloane who can run away with it, I was pleased to get her on the back foot and control the points a little bit.”
Konta’s resurgence on the clay has been one which few people would have predicted at the start of the clay season, when she was ranked 47th in the world.
The former world number four has shown her pedigree on grass and hard surfaces, but had never won a main-draw match on the Paris clay until this year.
Signs of her improved fortunes were evident as she reached two WTA finals at the Morocco Open and Italian Open - and that form has continued at Roland Garros.
Now she has won 15 matches on the surface in 2019, meaning only Martic stands alongside her in terms of clay-court victories on the tour this year.
Linking up with new coach Dimitri Zavialoff at the end of last year has paid dividends, Konta once again showing increased trust in her ability to cause opponents problems with her hard-hitting game.
Yet, although Konta’s confidence has been evident throughout the tournament, the manner of this 71-minute victory against someone of Stephens’ pedigree left those on half-full Chatrier murmuring with surprise.