Britain's Johanna Konta to play Venus Williams for Stanford crown
Monday 25 July 2016 00:14, UK
Johanna Konta will go up against top seed Venus Williams in Sunday's final of the Bank of the West Classic in California.
Williams will play for her 50th WTA title in Stanford in the tournament where she made her professional debut 22 years ago.
The American overcame tenacious Alison Riske 6-1 7-6 (7-2) on Saturday to set up a showdown with Britain's third seed Konta.
Konta, ranked 18th in the world, reached her first career WTA final with a 6-4 6-2 victory over second seed Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.
After sailing through the opening set, Williams had to fight her own inconsistent serve in the second.
Up 5-4 in the second and serving for the match, Williams produced three double faults and wasted two match points before finally easing through the tie-break.
The 36-year-old Williams, who won the Stanford title in 2000 and 2002, won her 49th career singles title in Taiwan in February.
Konta, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, and at Eastbourne in June, has recovered impressively since a disappointing second-round exit at Wimbledon in June.
"I'm really happy to have come through that and to be in my first final," Konta said. "I'm really happy that it's here in California, where the weather is unbelievable."
Konta dominated on serve and closed out the first frame with an ace, and delivered more of the same in the second set, winning 27 of the 29 points on which she put her first serve in play.
She could not hide her delight after a long forehand on match point from Cibulkova sailed out and she let out a scream of joy.
"It's a release of emotions, because I felt I needed to do a very good job of focusing on myself, my own game. And I was very happy I was able to do that and that's what happens when you try to stay calm for so long," Konta said.
"I was trying to focus just on the circumstances and not anything that was going on around me. I enjoyed being out here, playing in front of a great crowd and am excited to come back on Sunday."
