Jo Konta carrying British hopes into quarter final with Barbora Strycova
19th seed Jo Konta will take on the unseeded Barbora Strycova for a place in the Wimbledon semi final.
As the only Brit left in either singles draw, Jo Konta carries all hopes of having a home favourite through to a semi-final. She has met Czech Strycova once before back in 2017, but was defeated in straights sets in Tokyo. However Jo Konta is now ranked 36 places higher than her opponent and will go in as favourite to make her fourth Grand Slam semi final.
Having made her first Grand Slam semi final in 2016 at the Australian Open, the 28 year old made the Wimbledon semi final in 2017 when she was defeated 6-4 6-2 by Venus Williams. She was the first British woman to get to a semi-final since Virginia Wade in 1978. But she will hope to further that this week and become the first to win the tournament since Wade did in the year before.
Last year was not a successful one in terms of Grand Slams for Konta, only winning two of six matches. However this year the Australian born Brit made her most recent Slam semi at the French Open having previously never won a match there.
Konta progressed through her first two matches in comfortable fashion as she dispatched of Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan and Czech Katerina Siniakova both in straight sets. She has been forced to work hard in her last two rounds however, battling from a set down in both matches to beat former US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the third round and then twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the fourth.
Former world number 16 Barbora Strycova is making her 16th appearance at the Championships. She has only appeared in the quarter final once though, in 2014 when eventual champion Kvitova beat her 6-1 7-5. Before this fortnight that was the only time the 33 year old Czech had ever made a Slam quarter.
On route to the quarter, the woman from Plzen sailed through her first three rounds winning them all in straight sets. These victories included number 4 seed Kiki Bertens in round three. In the fourth round she battled back against Elise Mertens to win from a set behind.
Strycova has won 13 of her 17 matches against British players and will hope to extend that today. The winner will face Serena Williams or Alison Riske in the semi-final.
Konta (Great Britain):
Age: 28
WTA ranking: 18
Career Wimbledon record: 11-7
Career Grand Slam record: 34-22
2019 record: 32-11
Time spent on court so far: 7hr 05
Strycova (Czech Republic):
Age: 33
WTA ranking: 54
Career Wimbledon record: 20-15
Career Grand Slam record: 52-52
2019 record: 17-13
Time spent on court so far: 7h 24
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