Australian Open: Single-minded Johanna Konta aims for the quarters

Johanna Konta will be looking to reach her first ever Grand Slam final (Getty Images)

Johanna Konta is passing milestones with her every victory here at the Australian Open but the 24-year-old is determined to keep her feet on the ground.

A 6-2, 6-2 victory yesterday over the Czech Republic’s Denisa Allertova meant that Konta became the first British woman to play in the fourth round since Jo Durie 29 years ago, while a win tomorrow over Ekaterina Makarova would make the world No 47 the first British woman to make the quarter-finals since 1983.

“I think it’s as big as you make it, really, and it becomes as important as you want it to,” Konta said after her 64-minute win. “For me, it’s very much not the focus point of my career. It’s not what I play tennis for. For me it’s just staying in the present, enjoying what I’m doing and making sure I’m making the kind of improvements and moves forward that I want to.”

The improvements are there for all to see. If her potent serve and consistent ground strokes are the cornerstones of Konta’s game, the foundations are built on her new-found mental strength. The Briton’s temperament used to be highly suspect, but since she started working with her Spanish coaches she has become a model of single-mindedness.

Konta was concentrating so much on her own game yesterday that she was even unaware of the thigh injury that seriously compromised Allertova’s movement. Breaking serve in the first and seventh games of both sets, Konta looked in command from start to finish.

Only eight months ago, when she was the world No 143, Konta lost to Allertova in the first round of the French Open. Her rise since then has been remarkable. Having this week matched her performance at last year’s US Open, where she became only the second British woman to reach the fourth round since 1991, she is expected to have climbed at least another 10 places in the world rankings at the end of this tournament.

Konta, whose run in the doubles alongside Heather Watson was ended yesterday by their fellow Britons Jocelyn Rae and Anna Smith, said she was unaware of the landmarks she was passing and, indeed, did her best not to think about such matters.

Do not rule out further progress here. Makarova reached the semi-finals last year and the quarter-finals in 2012 and 2013 and is ranked 23 places higher than Konta, but the Russian lost her only previous match against the Briton at Eastbourne last summer. If Konta were to win her quarter-final opponent would likely be American Madison Keys.

Durie would love to see Konta match her achievement from 1983. “I think she has a good chance of making the quarter-finals,” Durie said. “Makarova is a fine player. But I feel Jo could get after her second serve.”