Is Johanna Konta tennis’ brightest rising star?
Well just ask world No.2 Simona Halep, who’s been turfed out of the Wuhan Open by the Briton — who made it 20 wins in 21 matches.
Konta sent top-ranked Halep packing 6-3 3-6 7-5 Wednesday despite being 5-1 down in the deciding set.
Ranked 66th in the world, Konta won six straight games to reach the round of 16 in a tournament featuring 19 of the world’s top 20 players.
What’s more remarkable is that Konta is the first British woman to beat a top two player in nearly 34 years.
You have to go back to October 1981 and Sue Barker’s win over No.2-ranked Tracy Austin for the last time a British woman pulled off such a result — and that was well before Konta was even born.
Konta, who will replace Heather Watson as the new British No.1 next week, started the year ranked 150 in the world.
But the 24-year-old, who was born in Australia but has represented Britain since 2012, is expected to rise as high as 55 in the world when the new rankings are announced.
Konta has enjoyed the most successful year of her career so far by reaching the last-16 of the U.S. Open and qualifying for the French Open while also winning a number of International Tennis Federation titles.
Konta’s storming run has included victories over the likes of world No.8 Garbine Muguruza, Germany’s Andrea Petkovic and Russian Ekaterina Makarova.
And now there’s the simple task of taking on one of the greats of the game — seven-time grand slam winner Venus Williams.
Williams, who overcame Carla Suarez Navarro to record the 701st victory of her singles career, will start as favorite against Konta.