Johanna Konta endured an amazing day of tennis to move on at the Wimbledon Championships Tuesday. The world number seven went all the way with Simona Halep before taking the chances that gave her the 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-4 win on Center Court at the All England Tennis Club.
The two met four times with the series dead even with one another. While Halep had the Brit figure out during Fed Cup competition, the world number seven battled the pivotal world number one in two long three setters on the hard courts. One led Konta to the Miami Open title earlier this season making her the undisputed British number one. The 26-year-old has a chance to do something not seen in four decades to become the first British woman to win Wimbledon. The obstacles were very much larger going on and her history with Halep would no doubt be put to the test.
The Romanian had a solid start in the set with sharp offense that challenged Konta right off. She delivered more pressure in the second gaining the break on the world number seven with a double break. Before taking another step in the right direction, Halep faced a strain of contention from Konta who didn’t want to fall further on the scoreboard. They went to deuce only to end in a second break victory for the Romanian who kept the shutout together. It was brought to a close in the fourth as the sixth seed captured her first service hold. The momentum sat comfortably with Halep who went up 4-1 that immediately concerned the majority British crowd to help Konta rally back.
The next two games saw a fight from the 26-year-old where her energy played a role in livening up her offense. She took Halep for a run on the break followed by a big service hold that left her a game down going into the eighth. The full comeback was completed by Konta on the serve that allowed her to enable serious gameplay that beat Halep straight up and level at four all.
Halep didn’t intend to stay there long and proved it with a response that gave her a chance at the first set. Konta wasn’t looking to bring an end to the set that quickly and forced Halep to go the distance with both still at their best. The set went further as both answered the call on serve to set up a tiebreaker that began with the Romanian scoring the opening point.
After a brief one all tie, it was Halep who took off with the will to win points and finished Konta off with a 7-2 victory ending the set in 51 minutes. The second seed had a better serve percentage than her opponent but the second serve showed itself at times while she tried to minimize its mistakes going into the second.
She knew that it was going to be one game at a time and it proved so with Konta taking commanding from the start. She took Halep through the first two games winning each one of them before the Romanian found a way to get into action. She managed to level up through four but the momentum was at the head of the British star. She took the seventh before going all in to break Halep in the eighth. The world number seven had a 40-0 run but saw it slowly erased with good answers in the rallies while on serve. She forced deuce with Konta before completing the service hold for a four all tie.
The Brit found herself under threat in the ninth with Halep fighting for a break that would give her a shot at serving for the set. Konta denied her the honor and planned to give Halep everything to force a deciding third set. The Romanian had her serve on lock scoring straight to 40-0 before the 26-year-old could respond. Once Konta did, the jitters seeped into the game of Halep who faltered to send the two to deuce.
Both of them had nerves that clearly affected their games at the worst moments. Halep as a double fault on the advantage and Konta erred on a ball into the net. In the end, the British star had another error on the volley that once again put the set into extra frames. They remained deadlocked going into a second tiebreaker where Halep once again took point. She had a strong 3-1 lead but it was surprisingly erased by Konta who overtook Halep to win 7-5 ending almost an hour to finish the second set.
This was the third time in their WTA history where the players went to a third set with Konta leading the way once more. As they got to a three all tie, the British tennis star took her push to the next level leaving just two games between herself and a semifinal spot. Halep put a short stop to it leveling the score at eight but in the ninth, Konta gained a huge break to serve for the match.
In a stunning show of force, Konta reached match point in the tenth where during the rally someone screamed out loud that forced Halep to stop playing. “I think it was a woman on my end screamed. I think she got over excited about the deep ball Simona hit when I was actually about to hit it,” Konta said. “It more affected me than my opponent.”
Halep’s decision to stop playing ended the match in 2 hour and 38 minutes with the ball into the net. Though it was an unfortunate ending for the Romanian, the match was a great battle for the two giving the 26-year-old a historic moment for British tennis.
“Right now, it’s a little bit surreal just because it’s quite incredible how quickly things go in tennis,” she said after the match. “I felt very clear on what I was trying to achieve out there and regardless of whether it was going my way or not I felt that I really stuck to my true self and just try to create as many opportunities as possible.”
The possibilities would continue for the world number seven as she would take on Venus Williams for a coveted spot in the Wimbledon final on Thursday. “
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