Konta crushes Kuzmova as clay resurgence gathers pace

Briton faces rival Vekic for quarter-final place Nadal drops rare set but progresses with Federer

In just a few days, Roland Garros has gone from being Johanna Konta’s bugbear to her favourite corner of Europe. The same woman who once could not buy a win on clay is now through to the fourth round, where she will face 23rd seed Donna Vekic in the latest instalment of what has been a closefought rivalry.

Konta was introduced to the glamorous new Court Simonne Mathieu yesterday, which is surrounded by greenhouses containing plants from four different ecosystems. She put down roots at once on the red dirt, her groundstrokes blooming as she expelled 21-year-old Viktoria Kuzmova in just 54 minutes.

The result was a 6-2, 6-1 landslide, which made her the first British woman to reach the last 16 of the French Open since Jo Durie and Anne Hobbs both got there in 1983.

This was the sixth time that Konta had played in the third round of a major, and the sixth time she had won. Which might seem like a mathematical quirk – except that it sums up what a streaky player she is.

Her record shows no fewer than 16 exits in the first two rounds of majors, the stages at which she tends to be nervy and vulnerable. Yet when her confidence is flowing after a couple of early wins, she plays without hesitation, using her flat and fiery groundstrokes to scorch a path up the court.

This win completed Konta’s set of fourth-round appearances – which means the second week – at all four majors. She still has a little way to go to match Durie, who reached the quarter-finals of every slam. But the Vekic match is certainly winnable.

These two faced each other in the second round of Wimbledon two years ago, in what proved to be a memorable tournament for Konta. The contest went deep into the third set, before she edged it by a 7-6, 4-6, 10-8 scoreline.

Admittedly, Vekic has since hit back with two hard-court victories, levelling their head-to-head scoreline at three wins apiece. But Vekic’s strongest shot, the serve, should be partially neutralised by the slower conditions here in Paris.

Happily, Konta seems to be past the worst of her cold, which reduced her to a hoarse and scratchy whisper after she took out Lauren Davis on Wednesday.

Her game was not seriously tested yesterday by Kuzmova, who hits a heavy ball, but tends to lumber around the court – especially on this slippery surface. But every part of her game was functioning smoothly, including the backhand drop shot which she is playing with increasing authority.

In the men’s draw, both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal also moved into the fourth round, although Nadal did drop a set – only the second he has given up here since Novak Djokovic beat him in the quarter-finals of the 2015 event. His opponent was David Goffin, the

former world No 7 who has fallen to No29 after suffering a number of injuries. And Goffin gave an evocative description of what it feels like to face the Minotaur in his lair.

“It was not easy at the beginning,” Goffin said after his 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 defeat. “I’m not used to the Centre Court, and he’s playing so far back. It looks like you hit too slow because he is five metres behind [the baseline]. You serve 120mph, and it’s like you hit with a soft ball because it doesn’t go. He’s

so fast and he’s behind and he’s playing so heavy. So it’s not easy to make a winner.”

Federer made an easier job of subduing Casper Ruud, a talented but inexperienced Norwegian, by a 6-3, 6-1, 7-6 scoreline as he became the first man to play 400 matches at the major.

But while he and Konta might have rushed through, it was a day of long matches on multiple courts, which led to one of the most anticipated encounters – former French

Open champion Stan Wawrinka against Grigor Dimitrov – being switched from Court Suzanne Lenglen to Court 1 at short notice.

This change caused havoc as fans holding tickets for Lenglen raged at the stewards, who would not let them into the revise venue, and the narrow gangways around Court 1 became dangerously crowded.

At least Court 1 will be demolished this coming winter, so these uncomfortable scenes are unlikely to be repeated.

‘Rafa is fast and he’s behind the baseline and playing so heavy. It’s not easy to make a winner’