Konta beat Zhang to reach semis in Melbourne

“She didn’t make it easy”, an ecstatic Konta said of Zhang.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Angelique Kerber and Johanna Konta advanced to the Australian Open semifinals Wednesday on another day when the integrity of tennis was part of the tournament conversation.

“She played quite explosive”, Sharapova said. I felt I did that. But there weren’t. There was absolutely nothing left.

A Grand Slam final appearance is now a real possibility, arguably more so after Kerber’s surprise win over the in-form Victoria Azarenka earlier on Wednesday. “There had been so much tension and emotion for so long that the end was just such a release”.

With the first set in hand, the Brit never looked back, hitting 28 winners and drawing 20 unforced errors out the Chinesewoman to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal in 83 minutes – though not in ideal fashion for the competitive Konta.

He beat Federer in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals a year ago, but Federer was back contending for titles.

Konta is the first British female in a grand slam semi-final since Jo Durie at the 1983 US Open and the first at the Australian Open since Sue Barker in 1977.

The No.7-seeded German will play the victor of the later quarterfinal between Britain’s Johanna Konta and Chinese qualifier Zhang Shuai.

On Wednesday, a half-hour before Kerber began her 6-3, 7-5 win over Azarenka to advance to the semifinals, tennis’ governing bodies announced they will commission an independent review of their anti-corruption unit to restore “public confidence in our sport” following the reports that possible evidence of match-fixing was not properly investigated.

Konta, ranked 47th, will next face German seventh seed Angelique Kerber. “She’s doing unbelievably well”.

However, the world No. 133 stayed in the set, as she got a break for 5-3 and managed to force the British No. 1 to serve again for a 1-0 lead. “I mean, I was zero from six before I came to court”, Kerber said. It was a tighter match than the score suggested and Konta did well to emerge unscathed.

Konta showed great resilience. Murray said it was a special time for British tennis, after he also led his country to Davis Cup glory against Belgium in November – the first time they have won the tournament since 1936.

In the final set, Konta served for the match at 5-4, only for Makarova to go for broke and level at 5-5.

“In my heart I feel like I’ve won this tournament because I’ve won seven matches”, Zhang said. “It’s really, really good for tennis on the back end of past year with the Davis Cup as well”.

“Now that’s gone, and you think that in a crisis she is going to be so stable and secure”. “Surely. I think in these situations I think people become skeptical when it’s sort of kept in-house”.

Ferrer proved a difficult proposition for Murray, relentlessly slugging it out from the baseline and keeping the Scot working hard in a physically demanding match on Rod Laver Arena.