Britain’s Johanna Konta downs Venus Williams to reach Miami Open final
Briton beats Williams 6-4, 7-5 in a gruelling battle to reach the final where she will face Caroline Wozniacki
Britain’s Johanna Konta beat Venus Williams 6-4, 7-5 in a gruelling battle on Thursday to reach the WTA Miami Open final, where she will face Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
The Australian-born 25-year-old broke Williams in the first game and played aggressively throughout the opening set.
Williams fought back strongly in the second set, breaking to go up 3-1. But Konta broke back immediately and again for a 5-4 lead that allowed her to serve for the match.
The American took advantage of some nervy play from the 10th-seed to break back, but Williams was unable to hold serve and that gave Konta a second chance to wrap up the contest, which she did after more than two hours.
Konta said she expects a big challenge ahead in order to capture her second title of the year after a Sydney crown.
“I am going to have a tough battle on my hands,” Konta said. “Caroline makes you work.”
Wozniacki booked her place in the final after rallying to defeat Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Pliskova, who won titles this year at Doha and Brisbane, also fell in the semi-final stage at Indian Wells two weeks ago.
Wozniacki then double faulted to give the Czech a break point, which she took before serving out for the set.
But former world number one Wozniacki, wearing down Pliskova with her solid defence, ran out a comfortable winner in the following two sets to earn a third final appearance of the year.
“I’m not sure how I managed to do that,” Wozniacki said. “It is tough when you lose that first set – especially having set points, it hits you a little bit. But I got a good start to the second set and that got me going, got me grinding.”
Pliskova, who began the year with a title at Brisbane, was philosophical about her second semi-final loss of the month.
“I’m definitely positive,” she said. “I’ve won a lot of matches this year. I can’t be too disappointed but obviously I am disappointed to lose two semi-finals especially when I think I could have won both matches.
“Obviously I think I could have done a bit more this year but then again I have never had a start to a season like this.”