Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic returns a shot against Johanna Konta of Britain during their semi-final at the Shenzhen Open. Photo: AP

Unseeded Katerina Siniakova reaches final of Shenzhen Open

Czech star beats Britain’s Johanna Konta to set up showdown with American Alison Riske

Published: 10:24pm, 6 Jan 2017

Unseeded Czech tennis player Katerina Siniakova defeated Britain’s world number 10 Johanna Konta on Friday to secure a place in the WTA Shenzhen Open final.

Siniakova eliminated second seed Simona Halep earlier in the $750,000 tournament but another upset looked unlikely when Konta raced into a 5-0 first-set lead and took it minutes later.

But the world number 52 recovered to level the match. Third seed Konta again took the lead in the decider, but Siniakova won the last four games to triumph 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Johanna Konta hits a return against Katerina Siniakova in their semi-final clash. Photo: AFP

“I think she definitely started slower in the match, and me, quite well,” Konta said. “But all credit to her, she really raised her level in the next two sets.

“She was going for every single shot and played quite freely, so it was a difficult match for me to do what I would have liked.”

American Alison Riske during her straight-sets win over Camila Giorgi of Italy. Photo: AFP

Siniakova will face American Alison Riske in the final, whose winning streak in China continued as she defeated Italy’s Camila Giorgi in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

The 26-year-old is ranked 39th in the world and has only ever reached five WTA Tour finals – four of them in China, including Shenzhen last year and the 2014 Tianjin Open, which remains her only tour victory.

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