British hopes are resting on shoulders of Murray, Konta

WIMBLEDON returned today after its day of rest with Andy Murray and Johanna Konta carrying British hopes on Manic Monday.

It is only the third time in 38 years that Britain has had fourth-round representation in both the men’s and women’s singles.

You have to go back 44 years to the last time the home nation had a man and woman in the quarter-finals, with Roger Taylor and Virginia Wade both making the last eight.

Expectations are high that Murray and Konta can match that, with both going into their matches as favourite.

Defending champion Murray takes on unpredictable Frenchman Benoit Paire, who has never made a grand slam quarter-final.

Murray is bidding to become only the third man to record 10 straight quarter-final appearances at a grand slam after Roger Federer and Jimmy Connors.

After his victories over Alexander Bublik, Dustin Brown and Fabio Fognini, Murray again finds himself up against an unorthodox opponent.

He said of Paire: “He again has a different game to a lot of the guys. He has very good hands, moves well, takes a lot of chances, goes for his shots.

“He can be quite up and down but seems to have played pretty well so far at this event. I expect it to be tricky.”

Konta is likely to have a tougher time against 21st seed Caroline Garcia, famously once touted by Murray as a future world No 1 and now climbing steadily upwards.

The pair have met four times before, each winning twice, with Garcia victorious in their most recent clash in Indian Wells in March.

Konta has done a good job so far of shrugging off the tag of title favourite that was thrust upon her following defeats for Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova.

Konta’s coach, Wim Fissette, said: “I would say she can win but I have different favourites for the tournament.

“Venus Williams won this tournament five times. We still have the No 1 player in the world in Angelique Kerbe and we have Victoria Azarenka, who has won two grand slams.

“I was surprised to see Jo at the top of the list because she never went really far here in the past.

“However, Johanna is Johanna and on a good day she can beat all the top players. She is only going to get better on grass so, if not this year, maybe the next year.”