SUCCESS may have come relatively late for Jo Konta, but last night she joined the big time as she became the first British woman to win the Miami Open.
The 25-year-old coped well with the nerves of the big occasion to beat former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 6-4, 6-3 and claim the biggest title of her career.
“Wow,” Konta said, summing up the feelings of all her team. “The crowd was incredible the whole week. My whole team, thank you so much, we’re having a great time working hard and I’m looking forward to carrying it on.”
Outside of the four Grand Slam events, Miami is right up there with the biggest tournaments of the calendar and Konta now has to be counted among the big guns on Tour.
Her victory, a reward for enormous hard work off the court and on it, will see her rise to a career-high No 7 when the
rankings are updated tomorrow morning.
Wozniacki, the Dane who has regained top form in the past six months to be on the verge of a return to the top 10 herself, could not cope with the controlled aggression coming from the other side of the net.
In Konta’s first final of this note, there were plenty of nerves and plenty of service breaks, especially in the first set, played out in balmy conditions, with temperatures topping 90 degrees.
Konta had beaten Wozniacki handily in their only previous meeting, in the third round of the Australian Open and having taken out Venus Williams in the semi-finals, her confidence could not have been higher. She broke the Wozniacki serve to love in the opening game and at 2-1 down, the Dane felt the need to call her father and coach, Piotr, on to court for some advice.
It worked as Wozniacki broke back for 2-2 but Konta regrouped immediately, breaking again for 4-2, only to be broken back for 4-4 after an epic game in which Wozniacki needed four break points to get on level terms.
But Konta’s rise has come thanks to her mental strength – worked on in no small part off the court – and she broke again before serving out for victory.
Konta called her coach, Wim Fissette, on to the court at the end of the first set, but after breaking in the opening game of the second set, she was broken back as Wozniacki levelled for 2-2.
But Wozniacki, defending as well as ever, struggled to impose her game-style on the match, was always under pressure and
Konta broke for 4-3 when the former world No 1 made a hash of a backhand after a poor drop shot from the Briton.
Konta held for 5-3 and then snatched victory with another break, hoisting a lob over the head of Wozniacki which hit the line – the challenge proving in vain.
“You played really well today, you deserved the win, you played better than me,” Wozniacki said.
“I was hoping third time lucky, I’ll try again next time. I was hoping third final this year was lucky but we go for the fourth.”
Former world No 1 Martina Navratilova, working for BT Sport, asked British fans to temper their expectations, for Konta’s own good. But Navratilova was also impressed at Konta’s ability to cope with the pressure.
“Jo Konta can beat anybody on a given day,” she said. “She’s definitely on the right track, she showed she’s a champion this week.”
In the men’s final today, Roger Federer will try to extend his dream start to 2017 by beating old foe Rafael Nadal for the fourth straight time.
Thirteen years after their first meeting – also in Miami – it will be their 37th meeting in all but their third this year, with Federer
having come out on top in the Australian Open final and again last week in Indian Wells, having also beaten him in the 2015 Basel final.
That’s the best streak of Federer’s career against Nadal and the Swiss is riding a wave even he didn’t believe was possible when he returned from six months out because of injury in January.
“It’s great to finish the hard court season with great feelings, it adds a lot of confidence for the clay court season,” he said.
Nadal said: “Roger has made one of his best starts to a season ever, winning a grand slam, Indian Wells and now here. It’s going to be a big challenge.”
Whoever wins today will climb to fourth when the rankings are updated, while the runner-up has the consolation of being fifth.
No matter what happens, the big five are back together again.
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