LONDON, England – British No.1 Johanna Konta took a lengthy rain delay in her stride to overcome Monica Puig and advance to the second round of Wimbledon for the first time in her career.

Displaying the poise that has characterized her rapid rise up the tennis ladder, Konta emerged onto a gloomy No.1 Court to close out a 6-1 7-5 victory.

Konta, who led 6-1, 2-1 when rain brought Tuesday’s play to a premature conclusion, was then forced to kick her heels for a further five hours as the wait for the skies to clear continued. When they did, the No.17 seed left her best tennis in the changing rooms as Puig pocketed the first three games.

Ranked No.36 and a semifinalist last week in Eastbourne, Puig represented as tricky an opening round opponent as Konta could have drawn. The Briton, however, was in no mood to extend her stay on court any longer than strictly necessary, reasserting herself in the baseline exchanges and drawing level when Puig sent a forehand long.

A few games later the Puerto Rican was serving to stay in the match. Sensing her moment, Konta went after her returns with added gusto, launching one beyond her sprawling opponent to close out a memorable victory.  

“I’ve worked my whole life, since I was eight years old, on becoming the best tennis player I could be,” Konta said “In that sense, I’ve been doing this for 17 years, so it didn’t exactly happen from one day to the next.

“I am very, very grateful for the experiences that I’ve had in quite a condensed, short period of time. I think that I am very grateful for that, enjoying that very much. Then again, also, the previous year where I had lost in the first round here, I had played some very, very good players. I always say I’m a firm believer in accumulating experiences. I’m most certain that if I hadn’t had those experiences, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the example of today or the last few days.”

In the second round, Konta, who is the first British woman to be seeded at Wimbledon since Jo Durie in 1984, will now face former finalist Eugenie Bouchard.