Konta not looking too far ahead as she takes on Halep for place in semi-finals
Johanna Konta knows she has a tough task in front of her as she aims to make the Miami Open semi-finals.
The British No 1 matched her 2016 run to the quarterfinals by beating Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 7-5, 6-1 in a tricky fourth-round contest in Florida.
Thatsetupalast-eightmeeting with third seed Simona Halep, who saved a match point to beat Sam Stosur in three sets.
Although the Romanian has struggled with injury and form so far in 2017, Konta, typically, is not looking too far ahead.
“I’m happy that I’m still here and get to play another match,” she said in her post-match press conference before she found out the identity of her opponent. “I don’t necessary believe in open fields because every single player in this draw is world class. So every match is as tough as the next.
“I’m just happy to be still part of the event, and whoever I play next I know it’ll be a tough game and I look forward to being a part of it.”
A much more difficult night looked on the cards for the tenth seed as Arruabarrena, who had only won one match this year prior to arriving in Miami, played superbly in the opening set and only some impressive serving from Konta kept her in it.
And at 6-5 she raised her return game as well, breaking Arruabarrena to take the opener. She timed it nicely as it was the first time she had been ahead in a service game of the Spaniard’s.
The second set was a different story, as Konta began to flex her muscles and hit her opponent off the court on her way to a 4-0 lead. A slight mishap saw Arruabarrena break to avoid a bagel, but Konta shut down any hopes of a comeback by seeing out the second set and the match.
On her performance, Konta added: “I felt I played myself more into the match a bit more. As the match went on, I felt clearer and clearer on how I wanted to play and what I wanted to do out there from my perspective. I’m quite happy I was able to execute that reasonably well. And also make it tough for her to stay in that match with the level that she was playing at.”