French Open semi-finals: Konta v Vondrousova, Barty v Anisimova – live!

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10.06am BST

Under gloomy skies, Konta and Vondrousova have stepped on to Simonne Mathieu. You wouldn’t blame Konta for feeling aggrieved at being demoted to Roland Garros’s third show court for one of the biggest matches of her career. But I don’t think she’ll let it bother her at all, she seems so at ease at these championships. Meanwhile Ashleigh Barty and Amanda Anisimova are warming up on Suzanne Lenglen. We’ll be focusing on Konta v Vondrousova, but will update you on the other semi-final too.

10.01am BST

So, what of Konta? A year ago the British No 1 turned on the “bastard” British press in an awkward press conference after her first-round exit at the French Open. Seven months ago she ended the 2018 season with only two match wins at the slams. Five weeks ago she started the clay-court season down at 47 in the world, having been ranked as high as four after her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2017. A week and a half ago she’d never even won a match at Roland Garros. But here she is in the semi-finals, as the favourite to beat the exciting young Czech Marketa Vondrousova and become Britain’s first female grand slam finalist in 42 years. It’s fair to say she’s rediscovered her joie de vivre in the French capital.

“I have never doubted myself, but I also have accepted I might never get back to the top 10,” says Konta. “I am proud and happy with how I am rolling and keeping the pressure on. This is my third time in a grand slam semi-final. I’d like to go one and two steps further, though. I will look to use the experience I have [of previous semi-finals, at Wimbledon and Melbourne] to deal with the challenges.”

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