At what stage does the dream start to become a reality?

Britain’s Johanna Konta will play Shuai Zhang of China tomorrow for a place in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

The 24-year-old, beaten in the first round of qualifying here 12 months ago when she was ranked almost 150, is into her first ever grand slam quarter-final after a 4-6, 6-3, 8-6 win over Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova.

She is the first British woman to manage in a grand slam that since Jo Durie made the last eight at Wimbledon in 1984 and the first since Durie to do it in 1983.

Durie, who is commentating here for Eurosport, spent much of yesterday beaming with delight for Konta, who beat Venus Williams in the opening round.

“She got through a big barrier today because it is very different - quarter-final sounds much bigger than fourth round,” she said.

“At a grand slam, it is quite a big thing to jump up to. I’m so happy, I’m so pleased. She’s done it in style. And I really think she is a genuine top 30 player and it’s so good to see, so nice.”

In the past, Konta’s weakness was closing out matches, something Durie has talked about on air this week.

But when she got the second chance she served beautifully, taking the game to 15 to reach the biggest stage of her career.

“I thought she’d blown it, serving for it at 5-4,” Durie said. “But the second time around, I was confident that she was going to win that one.

“I think Makarova had gone a little bit. But that was toe-to-toe with a player who has done very well at grand slams and been at the top.”

For her part, Konta admitted that she had no idea whose records she was equalling.

“Wow…that’s really cool,” she said, when told it was the first time in 39 years that a British man and a British woman were into the last eight of a grand slam event.

“I definitely didn’t know that, but it’s excellent. It’s really good for British tennis.”

The locals here have been doing their best to try to reclaim Konta as one of their own, down to the fact that she was born in Sydney and spent her first 11 years in Australia.

But Konta has reiterated how British she is and feels and should she make the semi-finals, she would be the first to do that since Durie made the semi-finals of the US Open in 1983.

Zhang, who came into the tournament having lost all 14 of her grand slam matches, will be tough but Durie believes Konta has a great chance to reach the last four.

And the former British No1 believes the current No 1, who has climbed to No 32 in the world rankings on the back of her fourth-round win, has improved beyond recognition in the past year.

“Anyone who has watched Jo – and I think she might say this herself – you really thought that she was going to break down and the forehand was going to break down and she was going to have some emotional trauma, because that’s what we had seen for years even though she has worked hard.

“Now you look at her and absolutely that’s gone. And you think in a crisis, she is going to be so stable and secure. And I think the locker-room knows that, they have seen it, and these players when they go on court they know she’s a threat.”

After going up an early break, Konta was pegged back by the left-handed Makarova, a semi-finalist last year.

The Russian took the first set but Konta mainted her aggression, rifling her backhand down the line to brilliant effect and levelled the match.

When she broke in the ninth game of the decider it looked like she would finish it there but she had to wait until she broke again for 7-6 before finally serving it out.

But despite all the attention and texts coming from home, Konta is at pains to remain modest and not talk about what might be.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m really pleased and tired and it’s nice to have a reward at the end of it,” she said. “But the real motivation is in getting ready for the next match.”

Tomorrow’s other quarter-final will be between 14th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Germany’s Angelique Kerber.

Two-time champion Azarenka beat Czech Barbora Strycova 6-2, 6-4 while Kerber downed fellow German Annika Beck 6-4, 6-0.