Venus Williams battles her way into Wuhan Open final

In the end, Williams secured the 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) victory to book her place in the final, but not before an injury to her upper left leg and a testy Vinci almost derailed her progress in the third set. Now tied at five-games-all, both players were desperately trying to finish this set – and match – as soon as possible, for obvious reasons. Muguruza’s win came after beating Kerber at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. “Venus is a legend”.

“I went on court to win and to do my best”, said Konta, who switched allegiance to Britain in 2012.

Devastated Serena Williams called a sudden halt to her 2015 season this week in the wake of the loss three weeks ago which apparently still stings deeply. I still have matches to play.

Konta looked like she might take the third set off Williams – breaking her serve to bring the score to 3-1 – and she kept the pressure on the American veteran right into the final game. “She’s had a wonderful summer and beat so many players this tournament”, Williams said. It is also worth noting that the world number eight hurt her ankle at a few point in the tiebreak, which forced play to be halted for a medical timeout at 3-all in the tiebreak.

The 24-year-old started in same vein against Williams, carving out two break points at 15-40 in the opening game, only for Williams to hit back to hold.

She has made a decision to sit out next week’s China Open in Beijing, withdrawing from the qualifiers, and will head back to the UK. [But] it’s the semi-finals.

Last month, Roberta Vinci played spoiler in Serena Williams’ quest for history at the US Open. He pounded down 13 against Kyrgios.

Venus would go on to win the point and the match. “I always want to be in finals”, she said.

“It was a fun match as well; it was really good”. The 15th-seeded Italian saved three of four break points and took advantage of 30 unforced errors by the eighth-seeded Pliskova.

“It was a great week”, Williams said. “I don’t think that ever changes. I feel really lucky that I got to share the court with such a champion”.