Konta faces nemesis as she eyes last four

TENNIS: British No 1 expects ‘tough’ test in bid to reach semifinals in New York

Johanna Konta needs to overcome another nemesis if she is to reach the semi-finals of the US Open.

The British No 1 beat Karolina Pliskova for only the second time in eight meetings to make the last eight.

Today she faces fifth seeded Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, a player she has lost to in each of their four encounters.

“Elina is a tough player for me to play. I’ve had a lot of difficulty against her. I mean, she’s incredibly tenacious,” admitted Konta.

“She’s a tremendous competitor. I would be going out there anticipating it to be a tough match, anticipating for her to be there from the very beginning to the very end.

“I’m just really looking to compete well against her on the day.”

Konta became the first British woman to reach the quarters at Flushing Meadows since Jo Durie in 1983.

She is bidding to become the first to make the semi-finals in each of the four grand slams in the Open era. “Yeah, I’m really pleased,” she added. “I think for me more on a personal level to be able to have made it to the quarters for my third slam in a row, I think that’s a really, really big achievement for me. So I’m really pleased with that.

“Obviously I’m looking forward to keep going further and further. You know how I am, I take one match at a time. I don’t really look forward too much more.”

Svitolina overcame Madison Keys in the fourth round, ending the American’s unbeaten record in night matches in New York.

Meanwhile top seed and defending champion Naomi Osaka is out after a straight-sets defeat to Belinda Bencic.

Osaka has been carrying a knee injury and called the trainer on midway through the second set, although she was able to carry on without receiving any treatment.

However, the 21-year-old from Japan was beaten 7-5 6-4 in the round of 16 by the Swiss 13th seed.

Bencic’s last-eight opponent will be Donna Vekic who squeezed past Julia Gorges, winning 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-3 to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic is out after quitting his fourth round match against Swiss 23rd seed Stan Wawrinka because of a shoulder problem.

Three-time Flushing Meadows winner Djokovic decided he could not continue with the score at 6-4 7-5 2-0, leaving Wawrinka, 34, to play Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals.