... expect history to be made in Melbourne
Wednesday 27 January 2016 08:26, UK
Johanna Konta and Andy Murray will make British tennis history by making it through to the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday, believes Sky Sports tennis expert Annabel Croft.
Unseeded Konta, ranked 47 in the world, became the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final since 1984 when she came through a three-set slugfest against Russian 21st seed Ekaterina Makarova.
Murray, meanwhile, made it through to the last eight for the seventh successive year following a scrappy three-setter over unorthodox Australian Bernard Tomic to set up his last-eight duel with David Ferrer, giving Britain their first man and woman in the last eight at a major tournament in almost 40 years.
Konta upset former world No 1 Venus Williams before wins against Zheng Saisai, Denisa Allertova and a draining victory over Makarov marked the Australian-born 24-year-old's furthest progression at a Grand Slam - the best British effort at a major since Jo Durie made the Wimbledon quarter-finals 32 years ago.
Durie also reached the Australian Open quarters in 1983. The only other British women to get as far were Virginia Wade, who won the tournament in 1972, and Sue Barker, who made the semis twice.
Konta now takes on Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai, ranked 133rd, in a battle of the underdogs, but Croft feels the British No 1, once known for her nervous disposition, will have too much in the locker for her opponent.
"She's focused, aggressive, she's taking the ball really early and she has a world class serve that gets her a lot of free points and her second serve is extremely deep and very difficult to attack. She looks to be in a zone," said Croft.
"It's very difficult to penetrate her because she gives nothing away. She plays everything in the moment and everything has come together - she's in a good place."
Twelve months ago, ranked 141st, Konta had just lost in qualifying for the third consecutive year and it was only when her funding was trimmed, and after she teamed up with Spanish coach Esteban Carel and sports psychologist Juan Coto that the results began to come in a flurry.
"She says it's a matter of process and a lot of hard work but it's clearly a lot of work on the practice court, but mentally as well as the physical stuff," believes Croft.
"She's extremely fit so she's never going to lose a tennis match based on fitness. I mean she's proved that time and time again but whereas the forehand used to break down, it never breaks down now.
"She's unrecognisable from that player we covered at the US Open about three years ago, when she battled through qualifying and I think she won one round, but she was a fairly ordinary tennis player back then.
"Now she's become a very dangerous tennis player because the serve is so venomous and she doesn't give anything away emotionally. She's quite calm on the court, whereas before she's been quite jittery.
"She gets her head down and gets on with it. Whatever has happened, she lets it go behind her and she never thinks back, she only thinks about the present.
"The forehand has become a force as well. She opens up the angles very well and the backhand cross-court and up the line is just phenomenal, so the whole package just all seems to have come together.
"She has a very good relationship with her coach, who has clearly put in a lot of hard work.
"When you have a draw that has opened up the way it has, it's quite something to be able to take advantage of that and still be able to keep focus - and that's what she's done so well."
Zhang was playing her first match at the Australian Open 13 days ago as she came through three rounds of qualifying, before knocking out world No 2 Simona Halep in the main draw.
That was the 27-year-old's first-ever Grand Slam victory out of qualification after she had lost all of her previous 14 first-round matches.
After Halep, Zhang ousted the experienced Alize Cornet, world No 51 Varvara Lepchenko and 15th seed Madison Keys, with Konta now the next upset in her sights.
It means both players will be entering the unknown when they walk out on Rod Laver Arena, but Croft remains positive of British success.
"I do think she'll win. It's too good an opportunity not to miss and I'm not so familiar with her opponent's game - but I just can't see her losing this one. She's hitting the ball far too well.
"Jo challenges people because she doesn't break down. She gets so many balls back into play - she doesn't miss - and she's proved that it's very hard [for her opponents] to get on top of the point, because she's so aggressive. She's been very impressive and extremely grounded."
Murray heads into Wednesday's quarter-final with Croft expecting the world No 2 to be involved in a battle against dogged Spaniard Ferrer.
The Scot was rocked by a family health emergency when his father-in-law Nigel Sears, Ana Ivanovic's coach, collapsed at the tournament and was rushed to hospital on Saturday.
Murray said he would have pulled out of the tournament if the news was bad about Sears, but the 58-year-old made a quick recovery and was cleared to leave hospital the next day.
Adding to Murray's predicament was that his wife Kim is heavily pregnant and he has said he will quit the tournament and rush home if she goes into labour.
"I think Andy's match is going to be very tough and very physical and he knows what's up ahead, but he also has a great record against Ferrer. I think it's 10-2 on hard and he's beaten him the last five times they've met," said Croft.
"He's been very emotional here and has shown a lot more emotion recently than I've seen. With what happened with Nigel, there's a lot going on and he's admitted to me that his mind has not been 100 per cent on the tennis because he's also about to be a father so his mind is on other things.
"He's been playing very well and he's hitting the ball as sweetly and beautifully as I've ever seen him hit it and he's so fit. He's moving so well. Every year I watch him, he's gets better and better and I think he's going to be very tough to beat.
"I've said it before, I think he's going to be in the final against [Novak] Djokovic."
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