The Briton played the Chinese woman in the final round of qualifying at the 2012 US Open, and a tough three-set victory took her into the main draw of a Grand Slam by right-she had been given a wild card for Wimbledon-for the first time.
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Allertova had come out on top when the pair met at the French Open a year ago but Konta exacted sweet revenge, closing out a comfortable win against the Czech world number 66, who was hampered by a thigh injury.
In Thursday’s semifinals, she faces No. 7 Angelique Kerber, another determined player who beat two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals.
When Murray, a four-time finalist at the Australian Open, dropped the second set to Ferrer, the drama escalated.
Milos Raonic has set another first for Canadian men in tennis by reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open.
Five-time champion Djokovic, after beating No. 7 Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-2, 6-4, still has a daunting semifinal match against Roger Federer, who has won four of his 17 Grand Slam titles in Australia.
Speaking about why her game has improved so much, Konta said: “I think really understanding why I was playing the sport and really finding my enjoyment within the sport, really separating that enjoying from results is a huge factor”.
Britain’s Johanna Konta continued her stunning form at the Australian Open with a straight-set win (6-4 6-1) over China’s Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals in Melbourne.
A break each at the start of the second kept things tight but, as in the first set, Konta surged into a 3-1 lead with the more assertive style from the back.
“I just wanted to make sure I was executing to the best of my ability what I wanted to get done out there”. “It was pretty physical and I held up pretty good I think”.
Serving for the set a second time, Konta edged her way to 40-30 with some well-struck strokes from deep, but again Zhang forced deuce point. The 27-year-old Zhang entered the Australian Open with a 0-14 record in Grand Slam matches, and was considering retirement.
“When the roof closed, I was up a break in the third and was feeling good”, he said.
“It will be my first match against her (Kerber)”, Konta said.
On Wednesday, just as Kerber began her match with Azarenka, the governing bodies of tennis announced they will commission an independent review of their anti-corruption unit to restore “public confidence in our sport”.
“I played very well”.
It seemed the match would settle into a pattern of her recent wins, in which she took early leads and then consolidated them, sometimes more convincingly than others. But I did great job these two weeks.
“She definitely raised her level and made me work for it. It was a great battle to be a part of”.
“When I was down 2-5, I was actually playing more aggressive”, Kerber said.
However, he and Brazilian will be on opposite sides of the net when they meet later today (January 27th) as Murray partners Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik and Soares plays with Russian Elena Vesnina.
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She has managed to inject the aggressiveness her game needed while staying true to her roots of running down each and every ball, and finally it came good against the Belarusian who had kept her at bay all this time – but with the prospect of making a Slam final for the first time, who will cave in to nerves first?
