Tuesday 19 June 2018 13:25, UK
Johanna Konta is "smelling blood" again as she targets her first victory over a top-10 player in nearly a year.
The British No 1 will take on Petra Kvitova in the first round of the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham on Tuesday fresh from her best week since reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon last summer.
Konta's results fell off a cliff for the rest of 2017 and this season so far has been an exercise in trying to regain form and confidence.
The signs in Nottingham were that both are coming back, with the 27-year-old winning four matches in straight sets before losing the final to Australia's Ashleigh Barty on Sunday.
Konta said: "To have those five matches in a row was definitely a good booster for me in terms of match fitness. I think I became a tougher competitor as the matches went on.
"You play certain points a bit tighter, you make those first serves, you smell the blood a bit more, like a shark would."
She will now hope to beat defending champion Kvitova, who is the fourth seed and, as a two-time Wimbledon winner, renowned as one of the very best players on grass.
Konta has lost all five of her matches against top-10 opponents since beating Simona Halep in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year, despite winning the first set in four of them.
"Whoever I step out on court against I trust in my game that I'm good enough to create chances and to come through," she said.
"I know she's playing very well, she's been having an incredible season so far so I'm going to be playing against a very in-form Petra, which is a great challenge for me and a great opportunity to really see how well I can compete
and really leave it all out there."
We have tennis coverage from the ATP Tour as we head to Germany for the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, live on Sky Sports Arena all this week.
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