Johanna Konta has become the first British woman to reach the final at the Miami Open after overcoming Venus Williams 6-4, 7-5, in a tense two-hour clash.
The significance of the clash was evident with nerves striking both players. Williams was bidding to reach her first Miami final since 2010. Meanwhile, Konta knew a win on Thursday would elevate her back inside the world’s top 10. As a consequence 27 break point opportunities occurred in the match (17 for Konta and ten for Williams). Eventually the titanic clash suffered an anticlimactic ending with Konta grabbing back-to-back breaks as she claimed 12 out of the last 14 points played in the match.
“To be honest, there was so little in that going either way. Both of us had a lot of momentum shifts.” Said Konta.
“So there really was hardly anything in that, and I’m just very happy that I was able to keep it in good perspective. I still took the good things. Even with those games that I lost where I had chances, I think I still saw that I was playing the right way and it was still going to be the way that was going to bring me the best chance of coming through.”
Konta’s tough route into the Miami final is highlighted by her error-winner radio of 40 to 25. Nevertheless, similar to her encounter with against Simona Halep in the quarter-finals, the Brit’s mental resilience gave her the edge. It could be argued that the match quality was marred by the lacklustre display of bother players, but Konta has hit back at critics.
“I can’t speak for her so I don’t know how she felt she played, but today I thought we did play quite a high-quality match.” She said.
Final Stats: Konta d. Venus.
More: https://t.co/Efm3pwBkzL pic.twitter.com/rEip2poYhN— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) 31 March 2017
Wozniacki next
Now back inside the world’s top-10 following her Miami run, Konta now has the chance of writing her name in the history books. A win in Saturday’s final will make her the first British winner of a WTA Premier tournament. Standing in her way is former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, who dismissed a below-par Karolina Pliskova in her semifinal match.
“Against Caroline, I’m definitely going to be looking forward to playing a lot of balls and a lot of tough points. She’s one of the best athletes in the game. She ran a marathon for goodness sake. I’m sure it’ll be a match where I’ll be running for a lot of balls.” The 25-year-old explained.
“Hopefully we’ll give a great match for the final.”
Saturday’s meeting will be Konta’s second appearance in a Premier final compared to Wozniacki’s 10th. Her first occurred at last year’s China Open when she lost in straight sets to Agnieszka Radwanska. Eager to capitalize on the experience of her first final, the Brit intends to ‘enjoy’ the Miami encounter.
“I think I will try to enjoy this final a little bit more. I think I may have just, yeah, not enjoyed the whole experience as much as I would’ve liked I think possibly.” She said when comparing China to Miami.
Earlier this year Konta thrashed Wozniacki 6-3, 6-1, at the Australian Open in what was their first meeting on the tour. If she replicates the victory in Miami, the Brit will be rewarded with the biggest title of her career and a rise to 7th in the WTA rankings.
