Konta into last eight as Evans moves into second round of the Aegon Trophy

Thursday, June 05, 2014

Konta into last eight as Evans moves into second round of the Aegon Trophy

 British No. 3 Johanna Konta battled past Russian qualifier Marta Sirotkina to move into the Aegon Trophy quarter finals, while Dan Evans advanced to the second round.

The eighth seed will need to win two matches on Friday to reach Saturday's final after rain affected play earlier in the week.

Evans beat fellow Briton Dan Cox 7-5 7-5 to set up a meeting with third seed Marinko Matosevic in the last 16. The British No. 2 also faces a potentially lengthy day on court, with second-round and quarter-final matches scheduled to be played.

Konta faces third seed and World No. 77 Sharon Fichman in the last eight, with the winner going on to meet either Kristyna Pliskova or qualifier Anett Kontaveit in the semi-finals.

The Briton staged a remarkable fightback from 5-0 down in the first, going on to beat Sirotkina 7-5 6-3.

Konta saved two set points at 5-2 on the way to winning nine successive games to take command of the second-round clash.

"I'm happy I came through that after being 5-0 down in the first set," said Konta.

"She started off very well, and I didn't start off well at all. When you are playing on grass courts things can move very quickly.

"I never thought that it was as good as gone, I really took it one point at a time. Even when I was heading to 5-0 down I was still fairly confident that my form was going to come – I just had to stay calm through the whole thing.

"I'm happy that I could come back from that and stick with my momentum and close it out in the end."

Konta is the only remaining Briton in the women's singles draw after wild cards Katy Dunne and Naomi Broady went out in the second round.

Dunne, who stunned World No. 100 and former Wimbledon semi-finalist Mirjana Lucic-Baroni to reach the last 16, went down 6-3 6-3 to Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

Broady took fifth seed Zarina Diyas to three sets, eventually going down 7-5 3-6 6-2.

Meanwhile, Evans was the only British player to advance beyond the first stage of the men's draw, with fellow James Ward among the six to exit.

Evans was made to work hard in his all British affair with Cox.

He was down 4-1 and battling to hold serve in the sixth game before he surged to victory, winning six of the next seven games.

"It's always nice to get tested early door, to see if I've got the fighting spirit," said Evans.

"I've not played that much lately so that has definitely given me some confidence – I dug deep and came through that match in two sets rather than three."

Ward went out to second seed and last year's Aegon Nottingham Challenge champion Steve Johnson in straight sets 6-3 6-3.

Wild card David Rice took the first set from fifth seed Kenny De Schepper but was eventually overcome 2-6 6-3 6-1, while qualifier Marcus Willis went out to top seed Igor Sijsling in straight sets.

Daniel Smethurst managed to avoid defending champion Matthew Ebden after the Australian withdrew injured, but lucky loser Dimitar Kutrovsky made the most of his late promotion in Ebden's place by triumphing 6-3 3-6 6-2.
​The Aegon Trophy is the first of back-to-back events making up the Nottingham Festival of Tennis, with the Aegon Challenge finishing on Sunday 15th June.

Entry to both the Aegon Trophy and Aegon Challenge is free for all spectators.

For more information, including orders of play and a full list of results for the Nottingham Festival of Tennis, visit  www.nottinghamfestivaloftennis.com.

 

Men's singles – First Round

D Evans (GBR) d [WC] D Cox (GBR) 7-5 7-5

[Q] JP Smith (AUS) d N Kyrgios (AUS) 6-4 7-6(5)

[3] M Matosevic (AUS) d J Duckworth (AUS) 6-1 7-6(4)

[5] K De Schepper (FRA) d [WC] D Rice (GBR) 2-6 6-3 6-1

[1] I Sijsling (NED) d [Q] M Willis (GBR) 6-3 6-1

G Muller (LUX) d [7] G Soeda (JPN) 7-6(3) 6-7(10) 7-6(0)

[Q] B Mitchell (AUS) d  R Ram (USA) 7-6(2) 7-5

[2] S Johnson (USA) d J Ward (GBR) 6-3 6-3

[LL] D Kutrovsky (BUL) d [WC] D Smethurst (GBR) 6-3 3-6 6-2

D Kudla (USA) d [Q] M Venus 6-2 6-2

 

Women's singles – Second Round

K Pliskova (CZE) d [WC] K Dunne (GBR) 6-3 6-3

[3] S Fichman (CAN) d V Dolonc (SRB) 6-2 6-2

[8] J Konta (GBR) d [Q] M Sirotkina (RUS) 7-5 6-3

M Oudin (USA) d A Morita (JPN) 6-1 6-3

[Q] A Kontaveit (EST) d M Linette (POL) 7-5 6-3

 [Q] E Daniilidou (GRE) d I Falconi (USA) 0-6 6-4 6-0

M Larcher De Brito (POR) d [6] C Vandeweghe (USA)3-6 6-3 7-5

[5] Z Diyas (KAZ) [WC] N Broady (GBR) 7-5 3-6 6-2

 

Men's Doubles – Quarter finals

[1] C Fleming (GBR)/A Sa (BRA) d Sa Ratiwatana (Thai)/So Ratiwatana (THA) 6-3 6-4

[4] C Guccione (AUS)/R Ram (USA) J Delgado (GBR)/G Muller (LUX) 6-3 3-6 10-7

[WC] D Rice (GBR)/S Thornley (GBR) d [2] K Skupski (GBR)/N Skupski (GBR) 4-6 6-4 10-4

P Hanley (AUS)/J Wang (TPE) d R Harrison (USA)/K King (USA) 3-6 6-3 11-9

 

Women's Doubles – Semi-finals

J Rae (GBR)/A Smith (GBR) [2] G Dabrowski (CAN)/ A Rosolska (POL)

[4] S Fichman (CAN)/M Sanchez (USA) d  [1] A Hlavackova/J Zheng (CHN) 5-7 7-5 10-8

 
 

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