Konta sweeps Stephens off the court to reach French semis
Britain’s Johanna Konta celebrates winning her quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Sloane Stephens of the U.S. in two sets, 6-1, 6-4, at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
PARIS — Sloane Stephens never stood a chance.
Johanna Konta produced a remarkably dominant performance against last year’s runner-up, winning 6-1, 6-4 Tuesday to become the first British woman to reach the French Open semifinals since Jo Durie in 1983.
Article continues after this advertisementThe match was so one-sided that the 26th-seeded Konta won all but one point on her serve in the second set — and the one that she lost was a double fault.
Konta served six aces, stepped into the court to crush winners off second serves and never gave the seventh-seeded Stephens time to find her rhythm or groove.
“To play one of the best players in the world and then play at the level I did, I feel really proud of myself,” Konta told the crowd.
Article continues after this advertisementThe match ended in a brisk 71 minutes with the late-arriving Parisian spectators still filing into their wooden seats inside Court Philippe Chatrier as it was finishing.
“There is not much you can do when someone is playing like that,” Stephens said. “I didn’t get a chance to really get into the match. … She executed a good game plan, and that was that.”
Konta’s semifinal opponent will be either 19-year-old Marketa Vondrousova or 31st-seeded Petra Martic, who were playing later on Court Suzanne Lenglen in the first Grand Slam quarterfinal for both players.
Konta, who also beat Stephens recently during her run to the Italian Open final, improved to 3-0 in her career against the American.
Fans attempted to motivate Stephens with shouts of, “Come on Sloane,” and “Just keep working,” but the 2017 U.S. Open champion struggled to deal with Konta’s pace and highly aggressive shots.
Konta hit 25 winners — more than twice as many as Stephens — and they were evenly distributed between her forehand (9) and backhand (8), with a few volleys mixed in, too.
Early in the second set, Stephens was stretched out wide and replied with a desperation forehand that landed on the line. Stephens’ must have thought her shot was going out, because she stood still and didn’t even attempt to run down Konta’s reply.
“I don’t even remember what that point was,” Stephens said.
On Konta’s first match point, Stephens hit a forehand that was called in by the line judge. But the chair umpire came down and overruled the call after inspecting the mark on the clay.
Konta has now reached the semifinals in three of the four Grand Slam tournaments after the Australian Open in 2016 and Wimbledon in 2017. She has never progressed to a final at a major but if she plays this way again, she’ll be tough to beat.
