Brit Johanna Konta made history by winning the Premier Mandatory event in Miami. No Briton had ever won this event on the WTA side.
Andy Murray is the only Brit to have won on the ATP side (2009 & 2013).
The 10th seed had a bye into the first round, and faced a qualifier in the second.
Konta strolled through the first set of the tournament, however the qualifier was not going down without a fight and managed to force a tiebreak in the second.
The Brit lost a tight breaker, but was soon back on track and sealed the final set without too much difficulty.
Konta disposed of her third round challenger for the loss of only four games. Giving out a tennis lesson to Pauline Parmentier, the Brit served up a bagel set to move into the fourth round.
The 10th seed did not drop another set until the quarterfinals where she faced Simona Halep.
The third seed, who could be on the Romanian team facing Britain in the Fed Cup World Group II playoff later in the month, took the first set.
The Romanian served for the match after breaking the Konta serve again. The Brit held firm and broke back to force a tiebreak
After Konta won the breaker, the steam went out of Halep. The Brit ran away with the final set and defeated the third seed.
Next up was home favourite and 11th seed Venus Williams. The match was close in so much as it needed a break of serve by the Brit in the two sets to extinguish Williams’ hopes of the title.
The final was the 10th seed against the 12th seed, as Konta took on Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane had progressed to her third final of 2017 and hoped to be third time lucky.
The Brit was having none of it, having already disposed of Halep and Williams, she was on course for the biggest win in British women’s tennis since 1977.
Konta claimed the first set, serving out for 6-4. The second set saw the players exchanging breaks before the Brit edged ahead. Once there, Konta held her nerve and serve.
Having only lost two sets all tournament, the Brit claimed the title and made British tennis history (something us Brits are used to saying by now, but generally where there is a Murray involved)!
No British woman had claimed this big a title since Wimbledon 1977 where Virginia Wade took the title. Yes Brits have won other tour events.
Heather Watson, for example won the title in Monterrey last year, but this is not a premier mandatory event. That win in itself was great for British Tennis, this was bigger.
Konta also builds on her 2016 year where she finished ranked 11th, and is now back inside the top 10.
The Brit had been ranked 10 before the final event of the year where she was leapfrogged.
The Brit can continue her form in the following events, although clay is traditionally a horrible surface for us.
Konta has very little to defend on the clay, and as the Fed Cup (and by the same regard the Davis Cup quarter final) will be played on the red dirt, a good start will be essential.
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