By Alberto Amalfi | Thursday, June 29, 2017
Grass-court tennis can be tough.
Johanna Konta is tougher.
Watch: Wozniacki Rallies Past Halep
The British No. 1 worked through an adventurous afternoon beating Grand Slam champions back-to-back and surviving a nasty fall to the grass to advance to the Eastbourne semifinals for the second straight year.
Konta rose from a hard fall to the grass to wrap up her first win over a world No. 1, a 6-3, 6-4, triumph against top-seeded Angelique Kerber, in the last quarterfinal of the day.
Rain earlier in the week required players to play two matches today to get the schedule back on track.
Down a break in the final set, Konta rallied past Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, in advancing to the quarterfinals against Kerber, who conquered Lara Arruabarrena, 6-2, 6-1, in her first match of the day.
Konta cracked 32 winners sweeping Kerber despite slipping and falling hard to the court on match point in the final game.
The fifth-seeded Konta was running behind the baseline in pursuit of the ball when her right foot skidded on the grass and she crashed to the court slamming her back and back of her head on the turf.
A concerned Kerber and chair umpire Kader Nouni both rushed over to the fallen Briton to try to aid her. After laying flat on her back for about six minutes while the trainer attended to her, Konta rose from the court to resume play.
Kerber asked "Are you okay?”
"Thank you," Konta replied before crunching a backhand winner crosscourt for a fourth match point. When Kerber poked a backhand into net, Konta was through to the semifinals.
"I'm okay," Konta said afterward. "I slipped and I hit my head so I’ve got a sore head so we’ll see. It’s been a busy afternoon not just for myself but all players definitely looking to recover as best I can and looking forward to play tomorrow."
Caroline Wozniacki's victory over second-ranked Simona Halep means Kerber will retain her world No. 1 ranking. The reigning US Open champion was relieved Konta was not seriously injured in her fall.
"You don't want that happen like this," Kerber said afterward. "I mean, I didn't know what exactly happened, but she told me that she, I don't know, slide and with the head on the floor.
"But yeah, I mean, at the end it's good that nothing happen. I think this is the most important thing."
Konta will take on Karolina Pliskova in tomorrow's semifinals.
The third-seeded Pliskova dispatched two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-4 in her quarterfinal.
A year ago, Pliskova stopped Konta, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, in the Eastbourne semifinals before bowing to Dominika Cibulkova in the final.
"I played her many times," said Konta, who beat Pliskova in their most recent meeting, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2) in Beijing last fall. "Every single time I've played her it’s been an incredible battle. Looking forward to hopefully playing another great match against her…Definitely the most important thing right now is to recover."