LONDON -- Johanna Konta became the first British woman in 33 years to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals after a three-set victory over Caroline Garcia.
Konta, the sixth seed at this year's Championships, came through a battling encounter against France's No. 21 seed to claim a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-4 win in just over two hours on Court No. 1. She is the first British woman to reach the last eight at SW19 since Jo Durie in 1984.
"It's very exciting," Konta said in her postmatch press conference. "It's another step forward to being involved in the event for the full two weeks.
"It was a very close match. I don't think there was much in that again today. I stayed mentally quite tough. I tried to really just knuckle down on every single point I could. She was serving very, very well, so it definitely wasn't easy to be active in her service games.
"I just kept on trying to get some momentum and some points under my belt.
On the home crowd, Konta added: "They were incredible. They were an absolute pleasure to play in front of."
Great Britain has not had a female singles champion at Wimbledon since Virginia Wade lifted the title in 1977. Konta will face No. 2 seed Simona Halep for a place in the final four.
Konta had previously not made it past the second round at the London Grand Slam prior to 2017.
But when Garcia slapped a final forehand into the net, Konta fell to her knees, struggling to hold back the tears before embracing her opponent at the net.
Garcia had beaten Konta, also in three sets, at Indian Wells in March but she is yet to beat a top-10 player at a Grand Slam and this time it was Konta's serve, and nerve, that came up trumps.
Information from the Press Association was used in this report.
