British tennis star Johanna Konta bows out of Australian Open semi-finals

Konta was bidding to become the first female British grand slam finalist since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon 39 years ago but her hopes were dashed as Angelique Kerber sealed a 7-5 6-2 semi-final victory Konta was bidding to become the first female British grand slam finalist since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon 39 years ago but her hopes were dashed as Kerber sealed a 7-5 6-2 semi-final victory.

This was the first year Konta had ever made it into the Australian Open main draw, let alone the semis, as 12 months ago she lost in the first round of qualifying.

Kerber is more established, having made two grand slam semi-finals and two quarter-finals before, while also finishing in the world’s top 10 in each year since 2012.

Konta, the self-professed “female Jason Bourne”, has tackled many a foreign foe in recent months and, despite this defeat, takes only positives from a glorious tournament, which will see her break the world’s top 30 and likely be seeded at the French Open.

It seems a world away from last year when Konta was ranked 141st in the world and was stewing over defeat to China’s world number 132 Lin Zhu in qualification.

Konta had been hoping to extend Britain’s excellent showing at the first grand slam of the year, with Andy Murray playing Milos Raonic on Friday in the semi-finals of the singles and Jamie Murray making it through to the doubles final alongside Brazilian Bruno Soares.