British No. 1 Johanna Konta won a three-hour battle on Centre Court in her second round of Wimbledon, defeating Donna Vekic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 10-8.
The 10-8 at the end is not a super tiebreak; those are full-length games from the “advantage” deciding set.
Although Konta is the tournament’s sixth seed, there was a fair amount of uncertainty heading into this match, as Vekic had defeated Konta in the third set of the Nottingham final in June.
Take a bow, @JoKonta91 & @DonnaVekic. Was an absolute pleasure watching both of you leave it all on the court. Way to go for it! #Wimbledon
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) July 5, 2017
In the opening game at SW19, Vekic saved two break points — the first with an unreturned serve and the second with a swinging forehand volley winner. Konta responded by holding her serve to love. Then at 40-15, Vekic sliced an ace for a 2-1 lead.
Two games later, Konta smashed a winner to tie the set at 3.
Konta, in her next service game, double-faulted into a 0-40 deficit. The Brit saved the first break point with a forehand volley winner, but she lost the second on a forehand error, putting Vekic up 5-3 and giving her the opportunity to serve for the first set.
But Konta broke back immediately, and then held with an ace to make it 5-5. Vekic then won a lengthy service game, and Konta held serve via a short forehand winner, forcing a tiebreak.
Konta stole a mini break on the first point of the tiebreak with a forehand winner. But she lost both of her subsequent service points by missing two forehands, one long and one wide. On the next point, Konta evened things at 2 apiece. It was 3-3 heading into the changeover.
Vekic shortly thereafter lost her serve, giving Konta 5-4 lead. Konta successfully served it out to win the tiebreak 7-4.
To start the second set, Konta found herself down 0-40. She fought off the first break point by curling an ace up the T, but then she missed a forehand long. The Croatian consolidated for a 2-0 lead.
Konta then held to love to get on the board, and then broke on a forehand winner to tie the set 2-2.
In the game that followed, Vekic retook the lead with a backhand winner to break. Vekic then fought off two break points, bringing things to 4-2.
Up 5-4, Vekic had the opportunity to serve out the set. The 21-year-old held to 30, forcing a deciding third.
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The first 12 games of the final set were holds. There was not even a single break point. Because Wimbledon does not use deciding-set tiebreaks, the players would fight it out until someone won by two.
At 6-6, Konta faced a break point, but was able to fend it off. 4 games later, Konta saved another break point to take a 9-8 lead with the set still on serve.
In the next game, Vekic was down a match point, but she eliminated it with an ace out wide. But Konta, with a forehand winner, earned a second match point, which Vekic lost by missing a backhand into the net.
A win for Johanna Konta later (vs Donna Vekic) would see two British women in the third round for the first time since 1986 (Hobbs & Durie).
— Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) July 5, 2017
Konta’s third-round opponent will be Russian up-and-comer Daria Kasatkina.
