Johanna Konta broke down in tears after quarter-final loss to Serena Williams at the Australian Open

The British number one was outclassed on Rod Laver Arena and beaten 6-2 6-3
Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images
Paul Newman25 January 2017

Johanna Konta said it had been one of the best experiences of her life but the 25-year-old Briton went out of the Australian Open quarter-finals here today when she was beaten 6-2, 6-3 by Serena Williams.

Konta had been seen as a major threat to Williams after reaching the last eight without dropping a set but the world No2 turned on the power to reach her 34th Grand Slam semi-final and her 10th in succession.

Konta, who had never met Williams before, felt she had not served as well as she could but insisted: “It was probably one of the best experiences of my life. I think there are so many things I can learn from that, so many things I can look to improve on, also acknowledge some things that I did well.

“Credit to her, she played an almost perfect first set. She just showed why she is who she is.”

Australian Open Tennis 2017 - In pictures

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Konta admitted that she had been in tears afterwards. “I cried because I’m generally quite emotional,” she said. “I’ve worked hard to direct that emotion into a positive way on court. But off court I’m still very emotional.”

The world No9 said that Williams’ ability to “hit her spots” on her serve had enabled the 35-year-old American to take early control of the rallies.

“I definitely would have liked to have served better,” Konta added.

“I don’t think I was able to fully maximize things on my end. But I felt I actually did a decent job at neutralising her serve.”

Konta’s next appearance will be for Britain’s Fed Cup team in Estonia in a fortnight’s time.

The first quarter-final of the day was another triumph for thirty-somethings as 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni earned a meeting with Williams in tomorrow’s semi-finals by beating Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Venus Williams, aged 36, will take on Coco Vandeweghe, 25, in the other semi-final.

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