ON the eve of the French Open, the chances of Johanna Konta making the second week sat somewhere between slim and none.
Even a superb run to the final in Rome failed to convince many people that she would do well here at Roland-Garros, especially since she had never won a match in four previous visits and readily admitted that she had never really seen the need to practice sliding.
But today, the 28-year-old takes on Donna Vekic (right), the Croatian seeded three places higher than her at No 23, for a place in the quarter-finals. Konta is the first British woman to make the last 16 here since Jo Durie and Ann Hobbs in 1983, the year Durie went on to make the semi-finals.
“I get reminded or I get my attention brought to these different little milestones, which is definitely a nice pat on the back,” Konta admitted. “It’s a nice thing to hear and especially after winning a match, it’s just a nice little extra.
“I have never doubted my form on clay. It’s nice to be able to get some reward for the work I have been doing in general, which I think translates to all surfaces. But to get that now, this period, it’s quite nice.”
The exit of Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, the No 4 seed, who quit early in her second-round match due to illness, opened up a path for Konta and the Briton has marched through it superbly.
After an impressive win in the first round over German Antonia Lottner, Konta battled past American Lauren Davis in three sets and then hammered Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia for the loss of just three games to reach round four. And that was despite the fact that Konta, too, had been feeling unwell in the early stages of the tournament.
“Yes, there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Konta said. “[The third round match was] the most human I have felt the last few days, so definitely seeing the light, which is nice. Coming to the end of it, hopefully.”
Durie, working for Eurosport in Paris again this year, has been singing Konta’s praises here this week.
“I think winning the first round this year has taken the burden off her shoulders, but the draws she had in the past at Roland-Garros have been no pushovers and I think sometimes people forget that,” she said.
“When she’s feeling good and in a good place her tennis is pretty relentless and is really hard to beat.
“I think she’s at peace with herself at the moment. She can actually enjoy it and I think she’s in that kind of mood at the moment where she’s fighting hard. She hasn’t got those expectations that she’s putting on herself [normally]. It’s a clay court, enjoy it and who knows?
“Most players have periods where they lose form, but Jo is a hard worker, she’s not panicked got her head down and here she is playing well again.”
Konta and Vekic are level at 3-3 in their six previous meetings, with the Croatian having their two most recent battles.
Konta, though, will have good memories from their epic clash at Wimbledon, when she won 10-8 in the deciding set, in a match that was notably held up by an invading army of flying ants.
“That was such a great match to be a part of, and I feel very fortunate to have come out the winning end of that,” Konta said.
“I remember the flying ants the most. A few weeks before that we played in the final of Nottingham so we had two really, really tough battles, quite close in succession.
“Last time we played, that was in Acapulco on hard, and I thought she played a lot better than me there. It will be a nice opportunity for me to try to do well against her.”
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