English
Arabic
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
British number one Johanna Konta moved into the world top 10 after reaching the final of the China Open by beating Madison Keys 7-6 (7-1) 4-6 6-4 the BBC reports.
The 25-year-old took the first set after a tie-break before American eighth seed Keys fought back in a semi-final lasting two hours, 35 minutes.
Johanna reach the final to face either of Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina or Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska in the final.
The last time a British woman made it to the world’s top 10 was in 1984, when Jo Durie achieved that feat.
“It’s really special, I feel very blessed to be coming back for the final,” said Konta after a hard-earned victory in Beijing on Saturday.
Britain also has a finalist in the men’s event, after world number two Andy Murray beat Spain’s David Ferrer in straight sets.
Konta was ranked 146th in the world as recently as June 2015.
She is only the fourth British woman to make the top 10 since the WTA rankings began in 1975 – after Durie, Virginia Wade and Sue Barker.
Konta led 4-2 in the first set before losing three games in a row. She rallied to take the opening set on a tie-break before unravelling in the second as Keys took the tie into a third set.
Keys broke in the first game but Konta immediately responded before going on to secure a place in Sunday’s final.
Discussion about this post