World No. 8 Johanna Konta will take on Slovak World No. 117 Magdalena Rybarikova in the Aegon Open Nottingham semifinals in front of a sell-out home crowd on Saturday, as the British No. 1 looks to reach her first ever WTA final on grass.

Top seed Konta, whose previous best result in the tournament was the quarterfinals in 2015, got past Australian Ashleigh Barty 6-3 7-5 in the last eight on Friday before defeating third seeds Casey Dellacqua and Hao-Ching Chan with Belgian partner Yanina Wickmayer 6-0 7-6(6) to make the last four of the doubles.

Watch Konta’s pres​s conference following her quarter final wins on Friday

The other WTA International singles semifinal at the Nottingham Tennis Centre will see 2017 French Open doubles champion Lucie Safarova face Croatian 20-year-old Donna Vekic. While each of fifth seed Safarova’s wins in the East Midlands have gone to three sets, World No. 70 Vekic is yet to drop a set this week.

Speaking after her 6-2 6-3 win over Greek Maria Sakkari, Vekic said: “I’ve had three good matches here so I’m very happy and fresh. I have always felt good on grass, and this year I’ve come into the grass season with confidence.”

She added: “I’m not a fully-developed player yet. There are still things in my game to work on and improve, but I know what it takes to be there. Hopefully I can stay there and keep the momentum going.”

Vekic press conference after quarter final victory over Sakkari

Elsewhere, in the women’s doubles, there was joy for British pair Laura Robson and Jocelyn Rae, who came from a set down to edge second seeds Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova 4-6 6-3 10-7 and book a semifinal meeting against fellow Brit Heather Watson and the USA’s Christina McHale.

Laura Robson (R) and Jocelyn Rae (L) during their Women’s doubles quarter-final match against Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia (Photo by Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images for LTA)

Watch Robson/Rae press conference after quarter final victory over Jurak/Rodionova

The near-capacity attendance of 2,089 was also treated to an all-Brit affair in the ATP Challenger doubles as brothers Neal and Ken Skupski beat Brydan Klein and Joe Salisbury 7-5 6-4 to reach the final, where they will battle Australian duo Matt Reid and John-Patrick Smith for the title. British qualifier Lloyd Glasspool, meanwhile, fell 6-2 7-6(4) to third seed Dudi Sela in the men’s singles.​

While tickets are sold out for Saturday’s action at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, there are limited tickets still available for finals day Sunday. For further details, please visit the LTA website

AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, GBR
10-18 JUNE, 2017

RESULTS – FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 2017

Women’s Singles – Quarter finals
[1] J. Konta (GBR) d A. Barty (AUS) 63 75
[5] L. Safarova (CZE) d T. Pironkova (BUL) 63 06 64
M. Rybarikova (SVK) d [Q] K. Ahn (USA) 64 61
D. Vekic (CRO) d M. Sakkari (GRE) 62 63

Doubles – Quarter finals
J. Rae (GBR) / L. Robson (GBR) d [2] D. Jurak (CRO) / A. Rodionova (AUS) 46 63 10-7
J. Konta (GBR) / Y. Wickmayer (BEL) d [3] H. Chan (TPE) / C. Dellacqua (AUS) 60 76(6)

Men’s Singles – Quarterfinals
[2] M. Copil (ROU) d B. Fratangelo (USA) 76(5) 64
[3] D. Sela (ISR) d [Q] L. Glasspool (GBR) 62 76(4)
[4] T. Fabbiano (ITA) d S. Stakhovsky (UKR) 46 62 76(5)
[Q] S. Groth (AUS) d [Q] J. Smith (AUS) 76(6) 62

Doubles – Semi finals 

[2] M. Reid (AUS)/J. Smith (AUS) d K. Kravchuk (RUS) / I. Marchenko (UKR) 67(5) 76(5) 10-3
K. Skupski (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) d [WC] B. Klein (GBR) / J. Salisbury (GBR) 75 64

ORDER OF PLAY – SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

CENTRE COURT start 11:00 am
(Q) Sam GROTH (AUS) vs Thomas FABBIANO (ITA)

Not Before 1:00 pm
[1] J. Konta (GBR) vs M. Rybarikova (SVK)
Dudi SELA (ISR) vs Marius COPIL (ROU)

Not Before 4:00 pm
[5] L. Safarova (CZE) vs D. Vekic (CRO)
SKUPSKI (GBR) / SKUPSKI (GBR) vs REID (AUS) / SMITH (AUS)

COURT 1 start 1:00 pm
[
4] C. McHale (USA) / H. Watson (GBR) vs J. Rae (GBR) / L. Robson (GBR)
After suitable rest – M. Adamczak (AUS) / S. Sanders (AUS) vs J. Konta (GBR) / Y. Wickmayer (BEL)