At times the emotional Latvian seemed on the verge of tears but after spurning some early match points, she held it together to book a last eight clash with a resurgent Caroline Wozniacki with a 6-4, 7-5 scoreline. Konta showed no signs of the health issues she suffered during her second round match against Tsvetana Pironkova.
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Edmund will now face world number one Novak Djokovic, whose third round opponent Mikhail Youzhny retired with a leg problem while Djokivic was leading 4-2 in the first set.
Given their relative histories – Pouille never had been to a Grand Slam quarterfinal until Wimbledon this year – Nadal might have been considered the favorite at that moment.
“I didn’t play the tennis level that I maybe would have liked to have played, but I competed the best I could”.
A superb Konta drop-shot, however, appeared to spark the Briton into life and she came back, holding, breaking and then drawing level for 3-3.
She will face the victor of the Madison Keys-Caroline Wozniacki on Tuesday. Remember just this time a year ago she had played her way through qualifying before losing to Petra Kvitova at the same stage.
She’s more mature, both mentally and physically, Sevastova said. “I honestly did a good job in managing what I did have, and I really gave my best”.
12 breaks of serve in the match told there own story but it was Sevastova’s superior shotmaking that proved the crucial factor as she saw off Konta to go with her second round victory over French Open champion Garbine Muguruza.
Pouille will face Monfils, a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 victor over 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis, who received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct for using his cellphone during a second-set changeover.
To Konta’s credit, she acknowledged in her interviews to British Eurosport that Sevastova had outplayed her, and in keeping with her practice of refusing to live or die by her results – she has a lot to be hapy with in this U.S. (and Brazilian) hard court swing.
“I was injured on and off, it was tough to play, it was not any fun and kind of depressing. I need to get it out of my mind so a bit of time off will be good”. In the victory, Sevastova won 61 percent of her first serve points and 40 percent of her second serve points.
Vinci will face the victor of Sunday’s late match between Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova.
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In 2016, he lost in the first round of the Australian Open.
