Johanna Konta and Caroline Wozniacki will play the women’s singles final in the Miami Open on Saturday, after they won their respective semi-finals against Venus Williams and Karolina Pliskova, respectively on Thursday. This is the first time in their careers that both players have reached the Miami Open final.
They have played each other just once before, in the third round of the 2017 Australian Open. That match was won by the Briton, who defeated the Dane in straight sets.
Caroline Wozniacki sends Karolina Pliskova packing
The 12th seeded Wozniacki was the first to reach the final after defeating the second seeded Pliskova, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in two hours and 16 minutes. The opening set itself lasted over an hour long, with the second seeded Czech pocketing it after saving three set points on her serve in the 10th game.
Wozniacki, however, made quick work of Pliskova in the latter two sets. The 26-year-old didn’t face a single break point on her serve in the third set, and before that went on to save all three break point chances in the second set. She also converted two break points in the second set and three in the deciding set to progress into the final.
Addressing her post-match press conference, Wozniacki said, “It’s definitely special. This is one of the few tournaments where I’ve never made [it to] a final. I think my best result was [reaching the] semi-final like five years ago. You know, it’s always been a tournament where I wouldn’t say I’ve struggled, but just not had the results that I’ve wanted to.”
Johanna Konta ends Venus Williams’ sublime run
In the second semi-final, Johanna Konta braved her way past Venus Williams, who was looking to reach her fourth Miami Open final, and the first after seven years. Konta won in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 but not before the veteran looked to have made another comeback attempt in the match.
The first set saw a few breaks of serve, before Konta rallied to take a lead in the match after winning the set 6-4. In the second set, it was Williams, who raced to a 3-1 lead after breaking Konta’s serve in the fourth game. But, the Briton promptly broke back before levelling the set at 3-3. Williams was broken for the second time in the set in the ninth game, which gave Konta the chance to serve out the match.
The 10th seed, however, seemed to be under pressure as she handed the break right back to Williams. A third consecutive break of serve, in the 11th game then saw Konta serve out the match in the 12th game to make it through to the final.
Williams had 11 double faults to Konta’s six, and she had 16 winners to the Briton’s 25 winners. There wasn’t much separating the two players in terms of unforced errors, with Williams finishing with 39 unforced errors to Konta’s 40.
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