Konta’s feat on clay earns her place in semi-finals

British No 1 Johanna Konta is through to the first claycourt semi-final of her career following a threeset victory over second seed Hsieh Su-wei in the Morocco Open in Rabat.

The 27-year-old came from a set down to win 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4 and set up a lastfour clash with fourth seed Ajla Tomljanovic.

Hsieh started the match in control, forging a 3-0 lead and, although Konta fought back to force a tie break, the 33-year-old from Chinese Taipei easily won the opening set.

After the first seven games went with serve in the second set, Konta appeared to make a key break to love for a 5-3 lead, only to be immediately broken back. At 5-4, Konta squandered three set points before finally making the fourth count to send the match into a deciding set, her third three-setter in as many matches.

After trading breaks early on, Konta again made another key break to lead 5-3, but as in the second set she let her advantage slip. The Briton, though, fought bravely and after Hsieh double-faulted to hand Konta three match points, she converted at the second attempt to book her last-four place.

In Prague, Bernarda Pera reached her second WTA Tour semi-final by upsetting third-seeded Qiang Wang 6-0, 6-7 (5), 6-3. The win earned Pera a meeting with Karolina Muchova. The Czech was a surprise winner over Russia’s Natalia Vikhlyantseva 6-3, 6-4.