Britain's Konta cruises into Nottingham Open semi-finals
British number one Johanna Konta reached the Nottingham Open semi-finals for the first time with a straight-sets win over Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.
The world number eight, 26, won 6-3 7-5 after converting her fourth match point against the 21-year-old.
Konta lost her serve midway through the second set before fighting back to claim four of the final five games.
“It was difficult, she started very strongly. I had to raise my game and only had one little dip,” said Konta.
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Konta, whose three career titles have all come on hard courts, is two more wins away from earning her first WTA title on home soil.
She will face either Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova or American Kristie Ahn – both ranked outside the world’s top 100 – in Saturday’s semi-finals.
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Meanwhile, British number three Naomi Broady has reached the semi-finals of the Aegon Trophy in Manchester after beating top seed Chang Kai-Chen.
The 27-year-old from Stockport, who is ranked 115th in the world, won 6-3 6-4 against the Taiwanese world number 109.
Bedene’s run comes to an end
British men’s number four Aljaz Bedene’s run at the Ricoh Open ended with a quarter-final defeat by Luxembourg’s fourth seed Gilles Muller.
Bedene, 27, was a break up in the deciding set but lost five of the final six games in a 6-3 3-6 6-4 defeat.
Reaching the last eight is still an encouraging start to the grass court season for the Slovenian-born player ahead of next month’s Wimbledon.