Britain’s Johanna Konta stormed into her maiden WTA final at Bank of the West Classic in Stanford after a stunning 6-4 6-2 win over Slovakia’s second seed Dominika Cibulkova on Saturday.
Konta, the No. 3 seed, served seven aces, dropped just two points on her first serve, and consolidated her serve all through the 73-minute semi-final battle.
Up next in the final hurdle awaits top seed and tournament favourite Venus Williams, who survived a close second set to pull off a 6-1 7-6 conquest of fellow American Alison Riske.
Venus converted two break points and held on to her serve to bag the opening set in no time. Riske, however, staged a spectacular fightback in the second, but despite having multiple set points, failed to force the decider as her fancied counterpart sealed the tie-breaker.
The duo will head into the Sunday’s final with a 1-1 record, with Konta winning their recent match-up at the Australian Open earlier this year.
Meanwhile, in the women’s doubles final, the second-seeded American force of Racquel Atawo and Abigail Spears will lock horns with the third-seeded Croatian-Australian combination of Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova.
