Johanna Konta 'can play even better' as Briton eyes French Open semi-finals

Johanna Konta is aiming to become the first British woman since 1983 to reach the French Open semi-finals - and her Fed Cup coach Anne Keothavong says she has yet to hit her peak.

Konta, 28, meets seventh seed Sloane Stephens, last year's runner-up, in Tuesday's quarter-final at 13:00 BST.

The Briton had never won a main-draw match at Roland Garros until this year.

"A lot of things are coming together but she can go up a few more levels if pushed," Keothavong told Super Sport Naija.

"Jo has played some fantastic tennis and the best thing is she can play even better - she is still very much playing within herself.

Konta, seeded 26th, only claimed her maiden first-round victory on the Paris clay against German qualifier Antonia Lottner last week.

The former world number four fought off sickness to battle past American Lauren Davis in the second round, then eased past young Slovakian Viktoria Kuzmova and Croatian 23rd seed Donna Vekic to reach the last eight.

Now she is bidding to compete in her third Grand Slam semi-final after reaching the same stage at the 2016 Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.

Former British number one Durie - the last woman to reach the Roland Garros last four - says she would be "very happy" for Konta if she emulated her feat.

"Johanna has worked out a way to use her game on the clay to really good effect," Durie, 58, told BBC Sport.

"She's worked very hard to get back to this kind of standard."

After little previous clay-court pedigree, Konta has enjoyed surprise success on the surface having also reached two WTA Tour finals at the Morocco Open and Rome Masters going into Roland Garros.

That came after she helped Britain win promotion to the Fed Cup World Group II stage - which Durie believes has boosted Konta's mental toughness.

Konta has won 13 of her 15 three-set matches this year, including a victory over American Stephens on clay in Rome.

"I think the whole team atmosphere at the Fed Cup worked very well and she won some really tough three-set matches," former world number five Durie added.

"I think that has helped her so much mentally and for her to take so many three-set matches this year."