Johanna Konta crashes out of French Open in disappointing collapse to Marketa Vondrousova

The British No.1 had three points to win the first set – and then collapsed in the drizzle to lose 7-5 7-6 to the world No.38 before the rain heavy came down in grey Paris.

She has now lost three Grand Slam semi-finals – halfway to the total of Tim Henman who never reached a Major final.

Konta made 41 unforced errors on the way to defeat and Vondrousova will face Ashleigh Barty in the final after the Aussie claimed her sixth match point to beat the American teenager Amanda Anisimova 6-7 6-3 6-3 in a rollercoaster match.

Starting at 11am local time in a 5,000-seater stadium barely a quarter full, Konta won the first 10 points against the nervous 19-year-old playing in the last four of a Major for the first time and seemed in complete control.

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Vondrousova needed to wait seven minutes to win her first point, won six in a row and then finally took her fifth break point on the Konta serve when the Brit threw in a double fault for the match to return to 2-2.

Konta immediately broke back and led 5-3 when her ace was originally called out – and the decision was over-ruled by French umpire Kader Nouni.

But after working her way to two set points in the next game, she imploded by hitting a drive volley wildly long and then slapped a backhand slice into the second.

Vondrousova even gave her a third set point after a double fault but she saved it with a forehand winner and held when Konta hit a backhand service return wide.

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With the rain starting to spit, the British No.1 still had the chance to serve for the set beut she was broken easily. And as her errors mounted, she then lost the set when she chased in a big forehand and saw Vondrousova’s chipped backhand return clip the line.

The second set had a similar pattern as she broke to lead 2-1 and again led 5-3. But serving for the second at 5-4, she threw in another terrible game – incuding hitting a volley straight at her opponent after a drop shot – and was broken following a double fault

With the rain then coming down heavily, Konta forced a tiebreak but a brilliant forehand pass from outside the court gave her a 5-2 lead and she took her first match point with a deadly drop shot.

Vondrousova said: “It was a very tough match today with the wind and the rain. I am just happy I kept my nerves at the end.”

On her arm, the Czech has a tattoo saying: ‘No rain, no flower’.

She said: “It means a lot to me. I like the tattoo.”

source: express.co.uk