Johanna Konta and Heather Watson reach semi-finals at Eastbourne
Friday 30 June 2017 11:59, UK
Brits Johanna Konta and Heather Watson are both through to the semi-finals of the pre-Wimbledon grass court event at Eastbourne.
The pair both came through two matches apiece on Thursday, rain earlier in the week having caused a backlog.
British No 1 and fifth Konta enjoyed a fantastic day, beating French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5 3-6 6-4 and then the top seed Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-4.
However, there was a nasty moment in the final game of the match against Kerber, as Konta took an awkward tumble and received treatment for several minutes before recovering to complete the victory.
Her compatriot Watson has made a welcome return to form this week and she also secured two fine wins, beating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-3 and following up with a topsy-turvy 6-1 1-6 6-4 win over Barbora Strycova.
Watson will play sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki in Friday's first semi-final, before Konta tackles third seed Karolina Pliskova.
Britain has two female semi-finalists in this competition for the first time ever, but Konta looked like she might have to default her match against Kerber at one point.
Having slipped and banged here head on the court she remained motionless for around five minutes and was clearly in distress.
But, following a stoppage of almost 10 minutes, Konta recovered, earned a fourth match point, and finally prevailed when last year's Wimbledon runner-up found the net.
She had earlier prevailed against surprise Roland Garros winner Ostapenko, who produced her trademark cocktail of brilliant winners and unforced errors.
The 20-year-old Latvian looked set to claim a ninth successive win when she went a break up in the deciding set but Konta managed to win the final four games, saving a break point in the last of those and then converting her third match point after Ostapenko had twice staved off defeat.
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