Beijing: Johanna Konta became the first British woman in 32 years to break into the top 10, after she beat Madison Keys to reach the final of the China Open on Saturday.
Konta put in a solid performance to advance to the biggest final of her career, beating eighth-ranked Keys 7-6 (7/1), 4-6, 6-4.
After a tight first set, Keys’ serve let her down in the tiebreaker but she rallied in the second despite continued pressure from the Briton.
Konta demanded seven set points from Keys for the second set and then stepped up her game in the third, keeping the American on the defensive to take her a step closer to her second season — and career — title.
“I don’t think she made a lot of unforced errors or gave me a lot of balls to be able to get on the offence,” Keys told reporters after the match.
Konta, 25, burst onto the scene at last year’s US Open where she reached the round of 16, claiming two top 20 scalps along the way.
She has gone up another gear this season, becoming the first British woman to reach a Grand Slam semi-final in 33 years at the Australian Open and reaching the quarter-finals at the Rio Olympics.
The win in the Chinese capital is yet another one for the record books: she will be the first British woman to break into the top 10 since Jo Durie in 1984 when the new rankings are released Monday.
Smashing records
Durie, who reached a career high of five, tweeted her congratulations after the match: “Congrats to @JoKonta91 a fantastic year & thoroughly deserves the Top Ten ranking. More to come I’m sure.”
Although typically focused Konta was quick to put aside thoughts of her top 10 achievement, she admitted that breaking another of Durie’s records felt good.
“I know I’ve achieved something good whenever I’m mentioned in the same sentence as her (Durie),” Konta said.
There was a lot on the line for both Konta and Keys as they chase points to qualify for the first time for the eight-player season finale in Singapore.
Konta moves into eighth spot with the semi-final win, while Keys remains in seventh position, but with two weeks to go before the tournament both could be nudged out.
Konta will face third-ranked Agnieszka Radwanska in Sunday’s final, after she beat Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 in the semis.
Svitolina — who upset world number one Angelique Kerber in the third round — recovered from 3-0 in the second set but was unable to close the gap on the 2011 China Open champion.
