Outplayed early on and struggling to find her range, third seed Elina Svitolina’s quarterfinal win against fifth-seeded Johanna Konta in the Brisbane International quarterfinals is the perfect example of hanging tough.
Konta had looked in scintillating touch early in the match, saving four break points in a nearly flawless first set that made Svitolina, her doubles partner for the event and the world’s sixth-ranked player, look second rate.
After racing through the opening set, Konta narrowly surrendered the second in a tie-break to the gutsy Ukrainian before calling an injury time-out to treat her right hip.
With Svitolina now in full flight, the clash was heading for an intriguing conclusion at 1-6 7-6 (8-6) 3-2 when Konta pulled the pin to hand the 23-year-old a passage into her second straight Brisbane International semifinal, 1-6, 7-6(6), 3-2 ret.
“I was calm even when I was losing the first, after losing the first set, I was trying to stay calm and to realise what I was doing wrong, and actually came back in the second set,” Svitolina said.
“And it was good tennis from both of us. I was trying to stay really positive about the situation. And I think it worked really good in the second set that I was trying to be out there and take my chances.”
It pits Svitolina into a semifinal clash with either No.2 seed and defending champion Karolina Pliskova or 2012 champion Kaia Kanepi.
“I’m very happy that I recovered well after two matches,” Svitolina said. “Even going into the third set, I was pretty fresh … ready to fight mentally, and physically I was feeling fine.”
Seventh seed Anastasija Sevastova became the third woman through to the semifinals when she breezed past unseeded Serb Aleksandra Krunic 6-2, 6-4.
The Latvian, who took down Sam Stosur in the opening round, will meet qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich for a place in the final after the Belarusian’s earlier defeat of Alize Corent.