Wimbledon’s Centre Court played host to an extraordinary contest on Day 3 as Johanna Konta triumphed over Donna Vekic 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-8 after more than three hours of pulsating tennis. Both women served superbly, hitting 12 and 11 aces respectively along with plenty of other unreturned serves. And the winner count was high too as the Brit and the Croatian struck ferocious groundstrokes (and a few delicate touch shots) into every part of the court. It was a truly amazing match.

Konta was the first to settle as she earned break points in Vekic’s opening service game and then held to love. However, the Croatian responded well with a couple of aces during an easy hold and some excellent groundstrokes to force deuce on the Brit’s serve in game five. Some fierce hitting from both women followed as they traded holds to take the score to 4-3 in the Croatian’s favor. Then Konta faltered, making three unforced errors and a double fault to surrender her serve.

Many players would have felt resigned to losing the set at that stage, but the Brit possesses great mental strength and she summoned her very best tennis to get the break back. Facing two set points, Konta hit hard and deep to force Vekic into errors, then came up with an amazing return against a serve that landed on the line after it was hit at 110mph by the Croatian. She seemed surprised that the Brit got it back, made an error, and lost the game.

The first set drama was far from over. In game 11, Konta hit a stunning cross-court forehand winner on her way to earning two break points, but then made two unforced errors to waste her chance. Vekic saved two more break points with some excellent groundstrokes and an unreturnable serve. The Brit made absolutely sure the Croatian had no chance to break her by hitting three eye-catching winners to take the opening set to a tie-break. And Konta then raised her game even further as she hit four winners in the tie-break to win it 7-4.

The second set followed a more familiar pattern as Vekic outplayed Konta to win it 6-4. They traded breaks early on but after the Croatian broke her opponent for a second time and then saved a break point in the next game, she never looked like giving up her advantage. Vekic also played a perfectly-judged drop shot in game nine as she briefly threatened to break the Brit for the third time in the set.

Despite the even nature of the opening two sets, no-one could have predicted what would follow in the decider. For 12 games, breaking serve looked virtually impossible as Konta and Vekic put on a masterclass of serving for the appreciative crowd. At one stage, Vekic had won 18 out of 18 points when she hit a first serve – which she did most of the time. And it was the Croatian who carved out the first chance to break in the third set – in game 13.

Vekic won a high-quality rally by outlasting Konta to make it 0-30, then erred after the Brit dug out a brilliant forehand return. Undeterred, the Croatian unleashed a succession of huge groundstrokes to force Konta into an error and earn break point. However, the Brit saved it with some powerful strikes of her own and clung onto her serve.

Three holds and a few forehand winners each later, Vekic tested Konta’s serve again by winning an amazing, lung-busting rally with a forehand winner clipped down the line to earn 0-30. After hitting another forehand winner at the net, the Croatian had her second, and last, break point chance in the set, but Konta drew an error from her racket and the chance was gone. Vekic made an unforced error to gift the Brit her first match point (and first break point of the final set), before saving it with an ace. Then Konta hammered a crosscourt forehand winner to earn a second chance of victory, and an exhausted-looking Vekic netted a forehand to give her the point she needed to take the decider 10-8. The Croatian was in tears as the players embraced at the net after a truly epic encounter – those lucky enough to witness it will remember it for a long time.

After the match, Konta said, “It was definitely one of the most epic matches I have been a part of. Both Donna and I played very well. Both of us deserved to win. I think it was one of those matches where it was going to just be decided at the very last minute. I feel very fortunate to have come through. It was a great battle.”

The Brit described her embrace with Vekic at the net at the end. She said, “After such a battle, you feel both your own and your opponent’s emotions because there wasn't much separating us. I could easily put myself in her shoes and feel what she was feeling. As players, we have all been in that position. It was more of a sense of congratulating her and us for the battle we presented on Centre Court.”

Konta explained how she handled the mental challenges of the match. She said, “I tried to see the positive things I was doing and accept the good things she was doing. I feel I competed well, even when the momentum shifted slightly to her side. However long it took, I wanted to be out there fighting for every single minute of it.”

Speaking after the match, Vekic explained that while it is always tough to lose a match, it is particularly difficult to take when you have given everything to it. The Croatian was happy about some aspects of the day, however. She said, “I am pleased with how I played. I thought we were both playing fantastically. It’s always been a dream to play on Centre Court and to play there today in a match like this was something really amazing. I think it’s great for women’s tennis. Now I can only be positive and try to look forward and see what other things I can improve to come back to that court and win.”

Vekic certainly impressed everyone who watched her today, including her opponent. Konta said, “She was doing very, very many good things. She was serving well. She was moving well. Both of us had to work quite hard for every single point unless we hit aces, of which there were plenty.” And when the Croatian was asked if she had ambitions to return to Wimbledon next year as a seeded player, she said, “I haven’t thought that far yet, but why not? I think anything is possible.” If Vekic produces more brilliant performances like the one she brought to court today, it is easy to believe she could achieve a seeding in 2018.

For Konta, there is plenty more work to do in the tournament. She said, “I'm hoping to be involved here for the full two weeks. But what was shown again today is that there is no easy match and no easy opponents. Every single woman in the draw can play at a very high level on any given day. I'm just really enjoying the challenges I face.”