Wimbledon 2019: Johanna Konta fights back against Petra Kvitova to reach quarter-finals

After nearly two and a half hours of tense, absorbing tennis on Centre Court, the British No 1 clinched a hard-fought 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory over the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion

Johanna Konta fought back from a set down against Petra Kvitova to reach the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon Championships for only the second time in her career.

After nearly two and a half hours of tense, absorbing tennis on Centre Court, the British No 1 clinched a hard-fought 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory over the 2011 and 2014 Wimbledon champion to secure a last-eight encounter with Barbora Strycova.

As with her comeback win over Sloane Stephens in the previous round, this was yet another tenacious performance from the Briton whose fighting spirit saw her through to victory, despite a late flourish in resistance from the Czech.

Konta missed two match points at 5-2 in the decider, with Kvitova breaking at the third time of asking to raise the possibility of a late Czech comeback. But the 28-year-old, the only Briton remaining in the men and women’s singles, served out the match on her next opportunity when Kvitova sent a shot long.

Of her nervous finish, Konta said: ”Of course there was a little bit [of nerves] but I definitely didn’t put it down to me being nervous. Kvitova started started playing really free and hitting through the balls – she was playing really well and I expected it to go to 5-5 at some point. So I was happy to stick with what I was doing well. It was small margins in the end.”

She added: “I feel tremendously grateful to be here and I’m happy just to still be in this event and to be competing against the best players in the world. You can’t ask for much more as a professional tennis player.”

It was Kvitova who started the match brighter of the two, firing over winner after winner - 11 in the first five games alone. But Konta, a talented ball striker, too, stayed with her opponent to keep the Centre Court on the edge of their seats.

In fact it was Konta who had the first openings but, from 15-40 at 4-4, Kvitova sent down four strong serves to avert the danger.

That left Konta serving to stay in the set, and she could not manage it. She was unfortunate with a net cord that dribbled over but strong play from Kvitova took her to set point, and the home favourite dragged a forehand wide.

But the 28-year-old had come from a set down to beat Stephens and she made the perfect start to the second with a first break of the Kvitova serve.

The key moments came in the next game on Konta's serve, which she finally held after saving two break points.

Kvitova, who had been so assured, was now making an increasingly number of errors and Konta took full advantage to open up a 4-0 lead.

She missed a set point at 5-1 and then took a medical time-out to have strapping applied to her left ankle, but she did not seem concerned by the problem and served out the set with an ace.

Kvitova had won three of their four previous meetings, with Konta's only victory coming in Eastbourne in 2016, but it was the Brit who had the momentum and she struck a series of fierce backhands to break for a 2-1 lead in the decider.

Konta in action during the first set (Getty)

The final one was called out, then shown to be in via HawkEye, and Konta gave umpire Kader Nouni no time to consider replaying the point, striding to her chair.

Konta looked supremely confident, and no wonder given she had won 13 of her last 14 matches that had gone to a deciding set.

A run of five successive games took her to the brink of victory but, serving for the match at 5-2, things became complicated. Two match points came and went and Kvitova retrieved one of the breaks.

When Konta stepped up to serve for the match again, the air of tension around Centre Court was palpable, but this time she made no mistake.

Additional reporting by PA