Bencic will face ex- world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals after the second seed won 7-5 6-1 against Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.
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Those victories came despite the fact that Konta has been under the weather all week, having been on antibiotics since last Sunday, and took a medical time-out before the start of the third set against Bencic.
Nadal was seeded second at Wimbledon past year but a lack of form and fitness has seen the Spaniard tumble down the ATP rankings.
Bencic, a finalist at ‘s-Hertogenbosh less than two weeks ago, was outplayed in the opener by the surging Konta, but responded by bageling the 24-year-old wild card in the middle stanza. “I have been slowly getting better, but it’s hard to get better with energy levels when you play against such high level players”.
“But she is not used to playing at the intensity that Bencic is”.
She swept into a 0-40 lead in the first game and although Bencic fought back to deuce, Konta broke with a forehand victor. Yet it was Simon who was ultimately unable to hammer the final nail in the match, squandering break points throughout the second set and finding himself at the mercy of Querrey’s huge serve in the ensuing tie-break.
Santiago Giraldo of Colombia won 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 against Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria, while Simone Bolelli, Malek Jaziri and Dudi Sela were all straight-sets winners before rain washed out play in the late afternoon and evening. But her tennis wasn’t quite so sharp on Thursday, holding serve just twice in the match.
“I knew she wouldn’t give me any easy points – she is a top-10 player for a reason”.
There was another plot twist, though, Konta rousing herself and earning five break points in the first game of the third set. She received a code violation for coaching and threw her racquet to the ground after netting a backhand.
Konta made a breakthrough in the fourth game of the decisive set and, following an exchange of service games, kept her composure to beat the world number 20.
Konta lives in Eastbourne and she would have loved to have gone further but there was honour in defeat.
But first for Eastbourne’s denouement.
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American Stephens advanced after Russia’s Daria Gavrilova withdrew from their quarter-final because of an abdominal injury.
