For Johanna Konta, the journey toward the top of the women’s game has been long, with as many downs as ups.

Tomorrow, she will play Sloane Stephens, last year’s runner-up, in the quarter-finals of the French Open, the first British woman to get that far since Jo Durie in 1983.

Should Konta, who beat Stephens recently on the way to the final of the Italian Open in Rome, repeat the feat, she will match Durie’s run to the last four all those years ago.

Konta likes to talk about the process, the small steps she goes through to enable her to play her best tennis.

It can be an insular world but the 28-year-old relishes the path that has taken her this far, to the brink of the quarter-final and a return inside the world’s top 20.

For the first few years of her career, after she switched her allegiance from Australia to the UK, Konta played on the ITF Tour, the lower rungs of the sport, her game still a little wild.

Over the years, she has honed her game to become one of the world’s best. A strong serve, big groundstrokes and outstanding athleticism are the hallmarks of her game.

But as she considers the prospect of taking on Stephens for a place in what would be her second grand slam semi-final, Konta is happy to remember the tough days.

“I actually really enjoyed playing those events,” said Konta, after her excellent 6-2 6-4 win over Donna Vekic of Croatia yesterday.

“I spent a lot of my career there because that’s where my ranking put me. I didn’t get too many opportunities throughout the year with wildcards and things like that to play in different areas.

“However, I mean, I think also a lot of players who go through that quickly are able to go through it quickly and they break into playing the WTA events more quickly than I did.”

And Konta said the entire experience made her stronger, mentally.

“I have a lot of really, really good experiences from there.

“To be honest, if I hadn’t gone through that, I wouldn’t be who I am now. I wouldn’t be the kind of player and person I am now.

“I think I can only look back on that period with fondness more than anything, because it’s definitely gotten to where I am today.”

Konta had produced a display of fierce but controlled hitting to swat aside Viktoria Kuzmova in the third round but Vekic was a step up in class.

The 22-year-old Croatian has had a very good season and had won her last two matches against Konta.

The pair are friends off the court and have practised together a number of times, as well as playing six matches previously, most memorably in the second round at Wimbledon two years ago where Konta battled to a 10-8 victory in the deciding set.

Another close battle had been anticipated but the British number one took a grip of the match from the start and did not relent, serving powerfully and accurately and sending her ground strokes fizzing into the corners.

Konta broke Vekic’s serve three times in the opening set before clinching it with an ace after saving three break points with winners.

Her only missed step was allowing Vekic to break back for 4-4 in the second set, but Konta promptly broke again before serving out the match to love.

After the match, Konta paid tribute to her opponent Vekic, who herself has been enjoying an excellent year and is at a career-high mark of 24 in the world rankings.

Konta said “To be able to win a match like this against a really tough opponent - I feel very fortunate for the way I played and I knew I had to against Donna.

“We’ve had a number of great battles. I’ve lost the last two but this was the first time playing on clay.

“I knew I had the game to be able to beat her but she also has the game to beat me.

“When I came out on court I really tried to do the best that I can.

“To win like that in front of a crowd like that gives you goosebumps.”

Konta had never won a match in four previous visits to Roland Garros but in the past month, she has found form on clay that she had only hinted at in previous outings.

Confident and healthy after a cold earlier in the tournament, Konta has oozed confidence and even all the talk of firsts, and emulating Durie has not affected her focus.

Instead, she has been equally happy to discuss her dog, Bono, and how much she misses him, in the same breath turning her attention to Stephens.

“I played her recently in Rome, but what she does well is she raises her level in tough moments, as well,” Konta said of the American who won the US Open title in 2017.

“I’m looking forward to it. It will be a great opportunity for me to play against one of the best players in the world. It’s a great position for me to be in.

“I have only been at this stage a handful of times. So to be back here, I’m definitely very pleased.

“This is not my end goal or anything, I would love to be here until the very end.

“But I’m also doing my best at really enjoying the different matches I get to play and the different accomplishments that I get to experience. Today was definitely one.”

Going into the fourth round, only nine of the 32 seeds were left in the draw, with Saturday seeing the exits of world number one Naomi Osaka and 23-time grand slam singles champion Serena Williams.

Asked if there was a feeling everyone was beatable, Konta said: “I think that’s been the growing mood for quite some time now.

“It’s nice to see competitive matches and for people to also enjoy matches where nothing’s a given.”

Durie, meanwhile, continues to be delighted that someone else should be emulating her feats and believes she has the chance to go further.

“I’m very pleased for her,” she said. “It’s easy to forget that she has qualified here before and reached the third round of Rome before this year so it’s not a total surprise.

“I think there was this barrier with her which always bigger at the grand slams about winning the first round, so it can make you more tense.

“Looking down the draw she has beaten most of these players and that’s important.

“But there will be a lot of them who might study the draw and think ‘Why not me?’”

Another impressed observer was former British number one Annabel Croft, who is working at Roland Garros for Eurosport and believes Konta is playing even better than when she was in the top 10.

“I’m not sure I’ve seen Jo Konta play this well to be honest, particularly on a clay court,” said Croft.

“It’s back to that sort of form that got her to the semis at the Australian Open and Wimbledon as well. But I think her level is even up a couple of notches.”

The transformation in Konta from a player who had never even won a main-draw match at Roland Garros to a quarter-finalist is quite something.

She has now won 14 tour-level matches on clay this season, twice as many as in the rest of her career combined, with only Petra Martic able to boast more success on a surface that had been easily Konta’s weakest.

Meanwhile, 19-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrousova will face Croatia’s Petra Martic in the quarter-finals after recovering to defeat Anastasija Sevastova 5-7 6-2 6-4.

“She’s a great player but I played my best tennis today and I’m really happy,” said Vondrousova.

“I’m in love with this place and I’m enjoying playing here.”