Home favourite Johanna Konta will come up against a familiar face in the Aegon Open Nottingham second round as the World No. 8 takes on her Belgian doubles partner Yanina Wickmayer in the WTA International singles event on Thursday, after the pair came back from a set down to beat Chia-Jung Chuang and Renata Voracova 2-6 7-6(5) 10-5 on Wednesday.
Second up on Centre Court they will battle it out against each other for the chance to meet Ashleigh Barty in the quarterfinals at the Nottingham Tennis Centre, after the 21-year-old Australian got past qualifier Jana Fett 6-2 6-1 to reach the last eight.
British No. 1 Konta said of her doubles victory: “I’m really happy with the match. We played some good doubles out there and, with it being the first time we have played together, I thought we played ourselves into the match more and more as it went on.
Talking ahead of her last-16 match in front of what is shaping up to be a near-capacity Centre Court crowd, she added: “We’ve played each other [in singles] plenty of times, so I’m sure both of us are reasonably prepared to be playing each other tomorrow.”
Elsewhere, in women’s singles action, there were straight-sets wins for Croatia’s Donna Vekic, 2010 Wimbledon semifinalist Tsvetana Pironkova and qualifier Kristie Ahn, who advances to her first ever WTA quarterfinal.
In the concurrent men’s ATP Challenger event, British qualifier Lloyd Glasspool recorded a fifth straight win in the East Midlands venue, with the 23-year-old defeating Australian Marc Polmans 6-2 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal meeting against third seed Dudi Sela.
Thursday’s play will involve 2016 Aegon Open runner-up Alison Riske, who will take on last week’s Aegon Surbiton Trophy winner Magdalena Rybarikova, as well as 2017 French Open doubles champion Lucie Safarova’s clash with Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei.
Brit Heather Watson will be in doubles action with partner Christina McHale of the USA against Americans Riske and Lauren Davis, while British No. 5 Brydan Klein will play Australia’s Sam Groth last on Centre Court for a place in the men’s singles quarterfinals.
With action nearing the business end at the Aegon Open Nottingham, the tournament is nearing a sell-out for each of the remaining four days.
The full daily schedule of matches will be available the night before via the Tournament website www.aegonopennottingham.com and via Twitter on @BritishTennis.
AEGON OPEN NOTTINGHAM – NOTTINGHAM, GBR
10-18 JUNE, 2017
RESULTS – JUNE 14, 2017
Women’s Singles – Second Round
A. Barty (AUS) d [Q] J. Fett (CRO) 62 61
[Q] K. Ahn (USA) d M. Linette (POL) 63 61
T. Pironkova (BUL) d K. Nara (JPN) 63 62
D. Vekic (CRO) d J. Boserup (USA) 63 64
Doubles – First Round
M. Adamczak (AUS) / S. Sanders (AUS) d [1] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / O. Savchuk (UKR) 75 61
[2] D. Jurak (CRO) / A. Rodionova (AUS) d K. Kawa (POL) / J. Tinjic (BIH) 64 76(3)
[3] H. Chan (TPE) / C. Dellacqua (AUS) d A. Weinhold (USA) / C. Whoriskey (USA) 46 76(1) 10-5
[4] C. Mchale (USA) / H. Watson (GBR) d M. Barthel (GER) / A. Sevastova (LAT) 76(4) 36 10-8
J. Konta (GBR) / Y. Wickmayer (BEL) d C. Chuang (TPE) / R. Voracova (CZE) 26 76(5) 10-5
Men’s Singles – Second Round
[3] D. Sela (ISR) d [Q] R. Berankis (LTU) 63 64
[4] T. Fabbiano (ITA) d [PR] Y. Bhambri (IND) 76(8) 60
S. Stakhovsky (UKR) d [8] I. Marchenko (UKR) 64 76(9)
[Q] L. Glasspool (GBR) d M. Polmans (AUS) 62 63
Doubles – First Round
J. Brunstrom (SWE) / R. Opelka (USA) d T. Fabbiano (ITA) / L. Vanni (ITA) 75 64
Doubles – Quarter finals
[2] M. Reid (AUS) / J. Smith (AUS) d S. Groth (AUS) / J. Millman (AUS) 67(4) 63 10-5
[WC] B. Klein (GBR) / J. Salisbury (GBR) d [PR] Y. Bhambri (IND) / D. Sela (ISR) 63 36 10-6
ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2017
CENTRE COURT start 11:00 am
R. Opelka (USA) vs [2] M. Copil (ROU)
Not before 1:00 pm – Johanna KONTA (GBR) Yanina WICKMAYER (BEL)
Aline RISKE (USA) Magdalena RYBARIKOVA (SVK)
Lucie SAFAROVA (CZE) Su-Wei HSIEH (TPE)
[WC] B. Klein (GBR) vs [Q] S. Groth (AUS)
COURT 1 start 11:00 am
Maria SAKKARI (GRE) Christina MCHALE (USA)
J. Millman (AUS) vs [Q] J. Smith (AUS)
After suitable rest – K. Skupski (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) vs J. Brunstrom (SWE) / R. Opelka (USA)
DAVIS (USA) / RISKE (USA) MCHALE (USA) / WATSON (GBR)
COURT 2 start 12:00 noon
B. Fratangelo (USA) vs K. De Schepper (FRA)
ADAMCZAK (AUS) / SANDERS (AUS) vs BOSERUP (USA) / ROGERS (USA)
M. Copil (ROU) / S. Stakhovsky (UKR) vs K. Kravchuk (RUS) / I. Marchenko (UKR)