Britain’s Konta rides big serve to reach first career final

When Williams netted her forehand return on the third match point, Konta dropped her racket to the ground and covered her face in triumph before heading to the net for a handshake.

San Francisco: Britain’s Johanna Konta captured her first WTA title in style on Sunday, beating former world number one Venus Williams 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 at the WTA hardcourt tournament in Stanford, California.

She only hit on 42 percent of first serves in the second set, but Bellis’ ability to nail backhands down the line at crucial moments shifted momentum in her favor. The third seeded Briton defeated Saisai Zheng in three sets, while the newly-married Slovakian wrapped up her match against the fifth seeded Misaki Doi in straight sets that included a second set bagel.

Konta had launched her career-best season with a win over Williams in the first round of the Australian Open, where she went on to reach the semifinals. Fresh off reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon, she is one win away from reaching the Bank of the West final for the eighth time in 13 appearances. “They tried to win and some of them nearly beat me, and some of them did beat me”, she said, chuckling.

“I went all right”, Konta said.

Venus Williams will play for her 50th professional singles championship in the tournament where it all began for the elder half of the legendary sister duo.

Konta is headed to the Olympics next month in Rio, having become the first British woman to reach the final at Stanford since Virginia Wade’s runner-up finish in 1981. “I feel like she gives a lot of hope to a lot of players for the longevity aspect”. But I was trying my best even though I wasn’t feeling great on the court today. I thought she served really well in the first set, very consistent, and she only has room to grow.

“I don’t know if I can remember being 17”, Williams, 36, told the crowd of 2,521 during an on-court interview.

“She’s really remarkable”, Riske said. With this week’s strong showing, her ranking will move to No. 6 for the highest she has been since February 14, 2011. She won 27 of 29 first-serve points – 93 per cent – and 73 per cent of her second-serve points. “I’m playing Venus Williams”.