Week 39 - WTA Premier 5 - Wuhan, China - Hard

Spaced · Lower Club Player

RE: Week 39 - WTA Premier 5 - Wuhan, China - Hard

philwrig · Hall of fame

Did she win, my recording stopped at 5-5 in the 3rd !!!!!!!!!!. Last time I use sky + to record a tennis match on BT, setting all that aside, what a win, I'm just praying she can keep fit, and so enable her to continue to play at this unbelievable level. Venus is playing well, but is certainly beatable.

Grachka · County player

Absolutely stunned she pulled it off! Look forward to finding the highlights somewhere. What a brilliant ambassador for GB.

thejester · Satellite level

tony_orient wrote:
It seems like every time Jo does something incredible, she then follows it up with something even more impressive.

What is she going to do now that betters beating the World No. 2 from 1-5 in the 3rd?

I guess beating Venus 6-0 6-0 is her only option really Tony! wink

bigboyjumbo · Lower Club Player

o my lord!!!

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

steven wrote:
Jan wrote:
Sim wrote:
Must be 35 odd years since a GB woman beat the World No.2 ... Sue Barker I guess?

I am sure Steven will tell us soon......
Steven has tweeted:
"Probably now in the top 50 on Monday, @JoKonta91 is the first GB woman to beat a top 2 player since Sue Barker more than 30 years ago! "
Yes, apologies for being a bit vague, but I'm not sure whether Tracy Austin was ranked 2 or 3 when Sue beat her in Brighton in 1981 (I've tried to find out for sure, but I can't) - if Austin wasn't top two then, the last time would have been when Sue beat Chris Evert (then no. 1) at Boston in 1979. Jo is thus one of only three GB women to have beaten at least one top two player in the Open era - the first was Virginia Wade, obviously.
The difficulty of obtaining anything other than year-end rankings from the 1980s (and the fact that newspaper reports form that era always talk about seedings rather than rankings) means I can't be 100% sure that Jo Durie never beat a top two player but Helen's table gives her career best win as having been against no. 4 and another of her most memorable wins, against Mandlikova at Wimbledon, came when Hana was seeded 3, so she may well have been ranked 3, 4 or 5 at the time, definitely not top 2.
Anyway, what a fabulous win, especially from the depths of 1-5 down in the 3rd - should see her into the top 50 too, I think
Edit: The LTA have just tweeted that Tracy Austin was ranked 2 in 1981. Seems like the kind of thing they might well keep a record of (many years before I started keeping records myself!) so that's probably correct.

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 30th of September 2015 01:36:25 PM

http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/5037574/title/johanna-konta-stuns-simona-halep

The WTA think it was Sue Barker at Brighton in October 1981 who beat world #2 Tracy Austin

wolf · Tennis legend

How did I forget about this match...?

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

wolf wrote:
How did I forget about this match...?

I suspect that doorstepping a diminutive porcine trio distracted you.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Just watched it - wow!!!! That was just amazing how she kept so calm even at 1-5 down. It was Halep that self destructed. Yet Halep played some pretty strong stuff, and Jo kept with her, and played heavy shots of her own to win and get past her.

I'm so proud of her. I think that taking time off after the USO has paid dividends. I just hope she's got enough in the tank for Venus. wither new ranking I'm hoping she'll get WC's into the remaining big tourney's - or better still not need them.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

For those wanting highlights, here is the WTA condensed (3:53) package

nicofrance · Strong Club Player

If Johanna Konta makes the semi-final or final won't this mean she'll have to pull out of Beijing qualifying? Is she definitely entered for Beijing?

Julia Carrot · All-time great

According to the BBC Johanna has twice beaten someone called Sabine Muguruza. We must have missed that one

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

A match against the elder Williams is interesting, as they know each other well enough.
Jo used to be, briefly, signed to Venus' EleVen, clothing label after meeting her at the 2012 US Open. She was the brand ambassador (alongside Gajdosova) when that company launched it's website, and went to the US to do photo shoots with Venus.
So off court, Jo has probably spent more time with Williams than most other similar players on tour.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Nice interview piece by Courtney Nguyen for WTA, that highlights how phlegmatic and grounded Jo is being about all this.

Sim · County player

Julia Carrot wrote:
According to the BBC Johanna has twice beaten someone called Sabine Muguruza. We must have missed that one

Also in the same article Naomi Broady might be a little surprised that she has been replaced as GB no. 3 by Laura Robson. confuse

Probably will happen next year but not today.