Konta Conquers Venus For A Spot In Miami Open Final
Britain’s Johanna Konta will play Caroline Wozniacki in the Miami Open final after overcoming former champion Venus Williams in a tight, straight sets battle.
Britain’s Johanna Konta will play Caroline Wozniacki in the Miami Open final after overcoming former champion Venus Williams in a tight, straight sets battle.
MIAMI, FL, USA – After more than a week of compelling tennis, Johanna Konta and Caroline Wozniacki are the last two standing at the Miami Open, as both women look to raise the trophy for the first time at the WTA Premier Mandatory event.
Here are 10 things to know before Saturday’s championship showdown.
Johanna Konta (GBR #11) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN #14)
Head-to-head: Konta leads, 1-0
1) Maiden (in) Miami.
Both players will break new ground in their careers when they set foot on court on Saturday, as each is competing in her first-ever final at the Miami Open. Playing in Miami for the 10th time, Wozniacki’s best result previously came in 2012, when she reached the semifinals. Konta is playing in Miami for just the second time in her career, and reached the quarterfinals in her 2016 debut.
2) Wozniacki Goes Four for Four.
Wozniacki has reached the final of all four Premier Mandatory events in her career with her success in Miami this week. The former World No.1 first was runner-up at the 2009 Mutua Madrid Open; won the BNP Paribas Open in 2011; and won the China Open in 2010. Konta will contest her second final at Premier Mandatory level out of her last three, finishing runner-up to Agnieszka Radwanska in Beijing last fall.
Caroline Wozniacki has now made the final of all 4 Premier Mandatories, 6 in all.
More: https://t.co/vkUOl0CPfY pic.twitter.com/LUgZPYo3Q8
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 30, 2017
3) Comebacks – and upsets (on paper).
Over the course of the week, both women have recorded wins over higher-ranked players en route to the final. Konta ousted No.3 seed Simona Halep in a marathon quarterfinal match, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2, after the Romanian served for the match in the second set, and was two points away from victory. Wozniacki also rallied from a set down to defeat No.2 seed Karolina Pliskova in Thursday’s semifinals.
.@JoKonta91 advances to @MiamiOpen Semifinals!
Battles past Halep 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-2! pic.twitter.com/nm3n99u6s8
— WTA (@WTA) March 29, 2017
4) Third Time’s the Charm?
While Miami marks both Wozniacki and Konta’s first Premier Mandatory final of the season, both players have already reached finals this year. Wozniacki will contest her third final of 2017 after Doha and Dubai, the most on tour this season. While the Dane is looking to win her first title of the year, Konta is appearing in her second final after winning the Apia International Sydney.
5) Lucky Number…45.
With this result, Wozniacki becomes just the fourth active player to reach 45 career finals on the WTA Tour; the 26-year-old has reached at least one final every year since the 2008 season.
#SAPStatOfTheDay: @CaroWozniacki reaches 45th career #WTA Final! #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/cLjFZidk2X
— WTA (@WTA) March 31, 2017
6) Recent History, Down Under.
The two have only met once before just two months ago at the Australian Open. In the third round match, Konta broke serve four times en route to a 6-3, 6-1 victory in one hour, 17 minutes.
7) Top 10 Implications.
Regardless of Saturday’s result, Konta is assured of returning to the WTA Top 10. With a victory, the Brit will rise to a new career-high of No.7, bettering her previous of No.9 from last fall. For Wozniacki, only a victory in the final will get her back inside the Top 10 for the first time since 2015, with a rise to No.8 in the rankings.
By advancing to @MiamiOpen final, @JoKonta91 will re-enter the Top 10 on Monday. Venus also moves into Top 10 UNLESS Woz wins the title.
— WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) March 31, 2017
8) The Road to the Final.
Combined, both players have dropped three sets this week. Konta had a battle on her hands in her first match of the week against qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich before her quarterfinal comeback against Halep. By contrast, Wozniacki rolled through her first four matches without losing a set until the semifinals.
9) A Bit of British History.
Konta is looking to become the first British woman to not only win the title in Miami, but also win a WTA Premier Mandatory event.
.@JoKonta91 is the first ?? to make a @MiamiOpen Final! pic.twitter.com/6hSG38HiaI
— WTA (@WTA) March 31, 2017
10) Singapore Shakeup.
A win for Wozniacki would see her rise to No.1 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, ahead of Karolina Pliskova and Serena Williams, while Konta would sit in fifth. Should Konta win the title, she will sit behind Pliskova in second, while Wozniacki will rise to third.
Unseeded and looming Gabriela Dabrowski and Xu Yifan knocked out four of the Top 8 seeds en route to their biggest career title at the Miami Open.
MIAMI, FL, USA – The British media celebrated Johanna Konta’s win at the Miami Open with plenty of print space and air time – and are hoping she’ll rise even further up the rankings than her current career high of No.7.
Konta said in her post-match press conference that she hoped her journey in the tournament would garner lots of attention for the sport.
“If the coverage has been good then it’s great for us,” said the British No.1. “It’s promoting tennis, and hopefully promoting more people to play.”
And so it has proved – starting with a front-page splash in the Sunday Times.
No stunts required – win as big as Konta is starting to, it gets attention. Front page of the Sunday Times. pic.twitter.com/VQKgSUsnt9
— DavidLaw (@DavidLawTennis) April 2, 2017
Comparisons are inevitably being drawn with Virginia Wade, Britain’s last female singles Slam winner – but Konta has played that down, although she admitted she would love to win Wimbledon.
The Daily Mail reported that she said: “It does sound quite monumental but winning Wimbledon is a dream and hopefully one day I will get an opportunity to play for such a title.”
An unforgettable two weeks for @JoKonta91 at the @MiamiOpen! ? pic.twitter.com/XuN5Snv16F
— WTA (@WTA) April 2, 2017
The Daily Telegraph’s tennis correspondent Simon Briggs assessed Konta’s chances of a Slam title thus: “How much further, then, can this late-blooming champion climb? Two years ago, Konta was ranked around the 150-mark, which did not even earn her a spot in the qualifying tournament here. Now she stands alongside Pliskova and world No 1 Angelique Kerber as one of the women most likely to worry Serena Williams.”
In the Guardian, Kevin Mitchell wrote: “Konta was clearly the better player in this match as well as the one in Melbourne. That was such a clear indicator of how far the British No1 has come in a relatively short time. There would not have been many takers backing Konta to beat Wozniacki even a couple of years ago. Now she has to set her sights higher.”
And of course Konta’s Fed Cup teammates were also thrilled for her – Naomi Broady and Heather Watson were straight on Twitter to publicly congratulate their friend.
She came, she saw, she 'kontad' ? best tweet I've seen today! Killing it JK ? @JoKonta91
— Naomi Broady (@NaomiBroady) April 2, 2017
Congrats @JoKonta91 ! ?????? #killinit
— Heather Watson (@HeatherWatson92) April 1, 2017
Hear from Samantha Stosur prior to the tournament.
DUBAI, UAE – Three WTA stars brought out their best pick-up lines ahead of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, hoping to earn your affections on Valentine’s Day before play begins.
2015 Wimbledon finalist Garbiñe Muguruza tried on her best Eartha Kitt impression, while former World No.2 Petra Kvitova was hoping for some directions into your heart.
Check out the video and some more WTA Valentines on wtatennis.com!
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – No.2 seed Roberta Vinci won the battle of youth vs. experience at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, defeating 18-year-old Belinda Bencic – who is poised to crack the Top 10 next week – 6-4, 6-3 for her 10th career title, and her first on the WTA Premier level.
Vinci had overcome a thrilling quarterfinal encounter against the big-serving Timea Babos and turned around a lop-sided head-to-head against former No.1 Ana Ivanovic just to reach the final, but the 32-year-old showed few signs of fatigue on Sunday, hitting 32 winners to just 12 errors.
By winning her semifinal against former junior rival Daria Kasatkina, Bencic was assured of a Top 10 debut heading into the championship match, and though she struck 17 winners of her own, she only converted two of six break point opportunities, and was undone by Vinci’s 25 forays to the net – 17 of which ended in favor of the Italian.
“Roberta played amazing today and throughout this tournament,” Bencic said, addressing the champion. “I gave everything I could but today you were much better!”
“It wasn’t easy,” Vinci said during her on-court interview. “It was a tough match; Belinda is a great player, so it’s tough to play against her. She only missed a few balls, so I had to stay focused every single point.
“But I served so good today, so I think that was the key to my victory.”
Having earned a career performance at last year’s US Open – where she ended World No.1 Serena Williams’ quest for the Calendar Year Grand Slam to reach her first major singles final – Vinci had previously announced her intention to make 2016 her last season, but with another title under her belt, the veteran was singing a slightly different tune when asked if she planned to play a few more years.
“No, two, three years, no. One more, but maybe. Why not?”
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Danka Kovinic has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the rankings in the last 12 months, but was made to work in the first round of the Rio Open; the No.3 seed beat American Sachia Vickery, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in just over two hours.
“It was so tough to play,” a tired Kovinic admitted after the match. “It’s very humid and hot here, and I came from Serbia, where it’s very cold. For me, it was very hard to play; I felt like I didn’t have energy, but somehow I found a way to finish the match.
“I really don’t feel good right now.”
At a career-high ranking of No.50, the 21-year-old Montenegrin next plays the winner of veterans Romina Oprandi and Sílvia Soler Espinosa for a spot in the quarterfinals and the chance to pocket valuable ranking points that can help her return to Rio later this summer for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
“I’ll try to do the best to earn as much points as I can; I really need them for the Olympic games. That’s my goal for this year.”
Earlier in the day, No.5 seed Polona Hercog took out qualifier Jennifer Brady, 6-4, 6-2, and resurgent American Shelby Rogers upset No.8 seed Andreea Mitu, 6-2, 6-2. Mitu’s countrywoman Ana Bogdan defeated local wildcard Gabriela Ce, 6-2, 6-3, while Paraguay’s Veronica Cepede Royg recovered from a set down to defeat Anna Tatishvili, 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-3.
An intriguing first round match concerns a pair of wildcards in Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and former World No.21 Sorana Cirstea, who is playing her first WTA event since last fall in Tokyo; despite a rain delay in the second set, Cirstea emerged victorious, 6-2, 6-1.
Roberta Vinci takes on Ana Konjuh in the second round of the Connecticut Open.
DUBAI, UAE – Jelena Jankovic was two games from elimination in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Playing against against No.5 seed Belinda Bencic – who made her Top 10 debut on Monday – the former No.1 survived an onslaught from the 18-year-old to come out on top, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
“I just fought every point,” Jankovic said during her on-court interview. “I tried to hang in there; Belinda was playing so well and I was almost on the edge of losing in the second set but I fought hard and I’m lucky to win.”
Coming to Dubai a mere days after reaching the final of the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy, Bencic led by a set and a break, and had her chances in the final set as well, saving 14 of 17 break points faced – including three in a row in the eighth game of the third – but Jankovic proved too strong in the end.
“I made a few tactical changes, and my fighting spirit all added up together and it made me win at the end. Belinda is coming from the finals in St. Petersburg; she’s playing very well, she’s in form, and I’m happy to win tonight.”
In a match that had little between the two, the Serb hit 37 winners to 33 from the Swiss, and eight fewer errors than her much younger opponent – 44 to 52.
“When you look at it, I’m like 12 years older than her, almost her whole age!” Jankovic joked. “That was my advantage tonight.”
Up next for the 2008 US Open finalist is good friend Andrea Petkovic; the German had a seamless first round victory over Camila Giorgi 24 hours ago, dropping just three games.
“It’s all with the ‘-ic’ if you look at it,” Jankovic said with a laugh. “Jankovic, Bencic, and Petkovic all on this side of the draw!
“It’s kind of cool, but Andrea is my friend and I know her very well. We just practiced with each other a couple of days ago. We know each other’s games and there’s no secrets.
“It will be another tough match and hopefully I can play well and we’ll see how it goes.”
“When you look at it, I'm like 12 years older than her. I'm almost her whole age!” -@Jelena_Jankovic on Bencic #WTA https://t.co/lMeue1myOq
— WTA (@WTA) February 16, 2016