By Chris Oddo | Sunday January 22, 2017
Johanna Konta won her ninth straight match to reach the quarterfinals on Sunday in Melbourne. Next up? Serena Williams.
Photo Source: Mark Peterson/Corleve
Johanna Konta won her ninth consecutive match, taking out Russian’s Ekaterina Makarova 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals on Day 8, setting up an enticing clash with Serena Williams in the last eight.
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Konta, who has now won her last 18 sets consecutively, has reached back-to-back quarterfinals in Melbourne. The Australian born Briton started her Grand Slam career by losing seven of eight, but has won 16 of her last 21 major matches since.
Konta, ranked and seeded ninth in Melbourne, improved to 4-0 against Makarova and 12-1 on the season. She was No.47 in the world at this team last year when she was embarking on a surprising run to the quarterfinals at the Australian Open. Since then the 25-year-old has done nothing but impress. She won her first title last year at Stanford and claimed her second title just two weeks ago at Sydney. Now firmly entrenched in the Top 10 there are those who believe that Konta's day as a Grand Slam champion could soon be coming.
She did nothing to dispel that notion on Day 8. Konta opened strong against Makarova, and though she had to rally from a break down in the second set to close it out, (and rally from 0-40 down while serving for the match), she got to the finish line without too much fuss. .
Konta struck nine aces and finished with 21 winners against just 13 unforced errors on the day; Makarova managed only a single ace and just 12 winners against 20 unforced errors.
Konta and No.2-seeded Williams have never met before. Earlier on Monday in Melbourne Williams slid by Barbora Strycova, 7-5, 6-4.
“She’s one of the few players who is still playing who I watched growing up, as a young girl wanting to be a professional tennis play,” Konta said. “It’s an incredible honor and I can’t wait to share the court with her.”
“She's been playing really well,” Williams said in press after defeating Strycova. “She has a very attacking game. I know her game pretty well. I look forward to it. Like I said on the court, I have absolutely nothing to lose in this tournament. Everything here is a bonus for me.”
Williams will be contesting her 47th career Grand Slam quarterfinal, and owns a 33-13 record in them; Konta will be contesting her second (1-1).