Paris: Johanna Konta became the first British woman in 36 years to reach the Roland Garros semi-finals when she swept past Sloane Stephens of the United States yesterday.
Marketa Vondrousova will face Konta for a place in the final after the 19-year-old Czech beat Croatian 31st seed Petra Martic 7-6 (7/1), 7-5 later last night.
Jo Durie was the last British woman to make the French Open semi-finals in 1983.
The 28-year-old Konta had not won a match at Roland Garros in any of her previous four visits.
However, she now finds herself in her third semi-final at a major after runs to the last-four at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.
“To play on the new Chatrier court for the first time was wonderful especially against one of the world’s best players,” said Konta after her third win in 2019 over Stephens.
“I am super happy because the conditions were so windy and Sloane is the kind of player who can run away with a match.
“So I had to be prepared to keep her on the back foot and control the points.”
Konta made sure of emulating Durie by breaking former US Open champion Stephens in the fourth and sixth games of the first set.
The Briton fired four aces and 12 winners past her 26-year-old opponent in the 35-minute opener.
The 26th seed tightened her grip with a break in the opening game of the second set and that proved more than enough.
Such was Konta’s domination that she allowed Stephens just one point on her serve in the entire second set which ended with a whimper when the American sent a groundstroke wide of the mark.
Later, Vondrousova became the first teenager to reach the semi-finals since eventual champion Jelena Ostapenko in 2017.
Vondrousova had to dig deep to reach her maiden semi-final.
She trailed 3-5 in the first set and gave up a 5-2 lead in the second set, squandering three match points in the process before she held her nerve to win.
Her victory over Martic came despite having lost all four of their previous meetings including at the Australian Open in January and in the final of the clay court event in Istanbul in April.
“She had beaten me four times but I think Roland Garros must be my lucky place,” said the Czech.
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