Johanna Konta remained the one to beat at the Wimbledon Championships Monday. The sixth seed got the revenge against Caroline Garcia to reach the quarterfinals with a 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-4 win on Court One at the All England Tennis Club. It was the third time Konta reached a quarterfinal in a major and the first time a British women’s player made it to the final eight since 1984.
The Brit remained the last surviving countrywoman to vie for a chance at the grand slam. Her solid victory in the third round put her back in familiar territory facing the French star who has had her number in the past. They met at Indian Wells back in March where it was an up and down battle ending in a hard defeat in three sets. While the home advantage played a role in her success, it would be up to the 26-year-old to bring down Garcia who had yet to lose a set at the tournament.
She experienced the challenge of playing Konta who quickly took a 2-0 lead in the opening set. Garcia acted quickly with a win in the third but her actions were late against the Brit who wanted to keep control on her game. She remained a game or more ahead of the French star getting into a great position with a 5-3 hold and just three unforced errors to show. The success came crashing down as Garcia somehow found ways to strike back and level the playing field through ten games. It was then that the French star had a footing on Konta who was still frustrated with the denial of challenging a call in the previous game.
It led to another push from Garcia which gave her major leverage to go for the match and pressure Konta to drop another. It was not meant to be as the Brit reached 40-0 and held the score over Garcia to stay alive and play it through a tiebreaker. Showing solid offense and good on the returns, Konta dug in deep to take care of the remaining points needed to take the set after 55 minutes. She had only five unforced errors in the set in a match that she didn’t want to slip out of when the leverage was moving well to her benefit.
She lost some ground going into the second as Garcia brushed off the opening set and attacked Konta’s serve and returns to no end. It was there that she gained a 3-1 hold in the set and held strong for the breaks. She added her second straight to lead 4-1 with her intentions clear on pushing Konta to another three setter. Though she gave up another game to the Brit, Garcia reached a 5-2 run with the ball in hand for the set. The high ranked Brit denied her opponent the easy exit of the second set and won the break to stay alive. She served up an attack that had Garcia on the ropes enough to win a third straight and make her comeback look possible.
The French star had the ball to serve for the set a second time and got it done to set up her chance to upset the British hopeful or be heavily challenged in the deciding set. The challenge was there for the world number seven who had herself tied through the first four games with Garcia. They went onward with a tie through the next four before a major push came to the hands of the British star.
Konta made the ninth game go to her name with very strong offense and knew that getting the match winner was key for her career. The pressure was all on Garcia who served in the tenth with a race on the scoreboard, by the tail end, the number six seed got out front and went for the match point on her first attempt. The short rally came to a close as the ball landed out from Garcia’s return sending Konta into a celebratory mode to bring an end to the 2 hour and 11-minute match.
“It was such a tough match to play,” Konta said after the match. “She really is an impressive form so it’s very hard to get any rhythm out there when she’s serving so well and she gets her strike in. I was happy enough to get enough returns in that game.” When reminded of her feat and future match against the winner between Victoria Azarenka or Simona Halep, the 26-year-old had a positive response.
“It’s pretty special to get this far and I’m very excited about that and looking forward to the fact that I get to play again.”
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