Press Release
For immediate release
Thursday June 11th 2015
KONTA COMPLETES COMEBACK TO JOIN RADWANSKA IN AEGON NOTTINGHAM OPEN QUATER FINALS
British No. 2 Johanna Konta produced a stunning display over two days to secure her place in Friday’s Aegon Open Nottingham quarter-finals, coming from a set down to beat Monica Puig 4-6 6-4 7-6(5).
Konta is joined by top seed and former World No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska, Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer and 17-year-old Ana Konjuh, who each won in straight sets at the Nottingham Tennis Centre.
In a captivating final contest of the day, American qualifier Sachia Vickery saved six match points on the way to a 4-6 7-6(5) 6-1 win over second seed Zarina Diyas, who suffered a hip injury at the beginning of the third set.
Earlier, British Fed Cup star Konta leveled her tie with Puig before play was suspended late on Wednesday at one set apiece, and the World No. 147 held her nerve in the decider to reach the last eight for the third time in a WTA event.
Konta, 24, who next faces Romanian Monica Niculescu first up on Centre Court, said: “It was difficult not being able to finish a match the same day as you started. I was feeling a lot of nerves and excitement because you can’t put it to rest when you go to bed. It takes a lot out of you but it’s part of the game and it’s not the first nor the last time it will happen. I’m just very happy I was able to pull through that today.” On facing Niculescu for the first time, Konta continued: “Difficult. That’s definitely a word to describe her. I’ve never played her before so I’m looking forward to the challenge. I’ll just take it a point at a time and try my best.”
Elsewhere, 2012 Wimbledon finalist Radwanska is also through to the last eight after easing past American Christina McHale 6-3 6-1 in one hour. With her service being broken at the first attempt, the World No. 13 concedes that she began sluggishly. “The start was a little bit slow for me,” Radwanska said. “But I think I was playing really well in the important moments in that first set, and I was getting more confident in the second. I’m very happy having played two good, quick matches already. Hopefully I can play five here, so that’s the goal for me. I’m just ready for the next one.” On avoiding complacency against World No. 63 Lauren Davis, the 26-year-old added: “When someone’s already reaching the quarter-finals, the semis or the final, it means they’re playing good tennis. On the grass, we can also see a lot of surprises. It doesn’t matter who is playing on the other side, you just have to play your best game.”
Meanwhile, Wickmayer swept Bojana Jovanovski aside 6-0 6-4 and extended her winning run over the young Serb to 5-0 since 2011. Wickmayer, who fired 19 winners past the World No. 54 and will face fifth seed Alison Riske, said: “I played a really good service game to finish her off. I’m really happy with my game today.”
And Croatian prodigy Konjuh also wasted little time in overcoming sixth-seed Australian Casey Dellacqua 6-4 6-2 to book her place in the last eight. Konjuh, the only player under 18 in the world top-100, feels arriving early in the East Midlands has been valuable: “I came a few days before to adjust to the grass. It’s probably my favourite surface to play on, it suits my style of play. I had good confidence from last year, I’m playing well and I’m happy with it.”
Images for editorial use available here: http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/ltapubuser?nav=pr283645562
Tournament videos for use:
Tournament tour - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsqheMecZps
Tennis meets football - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx4SNwRNCtg
The Aegon Open Nottingham will see two tournaments take place in June, the women’s WTA event taking place from 6-14 June 2015, and the men’s ATP event being staged from 20-27 June 2015. Both tournaments will be an integral part of the new British grass court season, which in 2015 will see a three week window between Roland Garros and Wimbledon for the first time. The extended grass court season will enable some of the world’s elite players extra time to find their feet on grass and make the most of the best grass-courts in the country.
Tickets to the Aegon Open Nottingham are on sale now. Tickets start from just £15 for an adult and £5 for a child. For more information and to purchase tickets please visit http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham
For information on the hospitality packages on offer at The Aegon Open Nottingham head to http://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/nottingham-hospitality/ or contact Elliot Sheasby on aegonopen@lta.org.uk
AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM - NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND
$ 250,000.00
8-14 JUNE, 2015
ORDER OF PLAY - FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
M. Niculescu (ROU) vs [WC] J. Konta (GBR)
[1] [WC] A. Radwanska (POL) vs L. Davis (USA)
[5] A. Riske (USA) vs Y. Wickmayer (BEL)
A. Konjuh (CRO) vs [Q] S. Vickery (USA)
COURT 3 start 1:00 pm
C. Chuang (TPE) / O. Savchuk (UKR) vs [2] Y. Chan (TPE) / J. Zheng (CHN)
Not Before 4:00 pm
After suitable rest - J. Rae (GBR) / A. Smith (GBR) vs M. Niculescu (ROU) / A. Parra Santonja (ESP)
RESULTS - JUNE 11, 2015
Women's
Singles - Second Round
[1] [WC] A. Radwanska (POL) d C. Mchale (USA) 63 61
[Q] S. Vickery (USA) d [2] Z. Diyas (KAZ) 46 76(5) 61
A. Konjuh (CRO) d [6] C. Dellacqua (AUS) 64 62
[WC] J. Konta (GBR) d M. Puig (PUR) 46 64 76(5)
Y. Wickmayer (BEL) d B. Jovanovski (SRB) 60 64
Women's
Doubles - Quarterfinals
[1] R. Kops-Jones (USA) / A. Spears (USA) d S. Aoyama (JPN) / R. Voracova (CZE) 61 61
C. Chan (TPE) / Y. Xu (CHN) d [4] C. Black (ZIM) / L. Raymond (USA) 62 64
First Round
M. Niculescu (ROU) / A. Parra Santonja (ESP) d [3] H. Chan (TPE) / A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) 64 76(2)
- ENDS -
For media enquiries please contact:
Charlie Bosomworth; LTA Communications Officer
charlie.bosomworth@lta.org.uk
0208 487 7021 or 07932 276 053
Andrew Aloia; Aegon Open Nottingham, Press Officer
Andrew.aloia@gmail.com
07845 586290
Notes to Editors:
- The Lawn Tennis Association’s (LTA) mission is to get more people playing tennis more often, and its role is to develop, promote and govern tennis in Britain.
- Aegon is Lead Partner of British Tennis and is helping to transform the sport in this country. They’re supporting young talent through the Aegon Future Stars programme, as well as sponsoring the junior and senior GB Davis and Fed Cup teams and amateur and professional events. Aegon sponsor five world-class grass court tournaments; the Aegon Classic Birmingham, Aegon International Eastbourne and Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, and will also sponsor the new Aegon Open Nottingham WTA and ATP events from 2015. For further information visit www.aegontennis.co.uk
- The LTA’s purpose is to enrich lives through tennis. Our new values are Teamwork, Integrity, Passion and Excellence which underpin everything that we do.