Johanna Konta came into this Shenzhen Open semifinal match the heavy favourite against Katerina Siniakova, being the higher-ranked of both. Konta was actually the favourite for the title here as the top two seeds, Agnieszka Radwanska and Simona Halep, both fell in the early rounds. Siniakova had her first ever top 10 win of her career against Halep herself, defeating her in three grueling sets. Whereas, Konta won two of her three matches in three sets, coming through tough battles against Vania King and Kristyna Pliskova. Siniakova unexpectedly completed the upset after 1 hour and 43 minutes, to reach her 3rd WTA final in her career.
Konta gets off to perfect start
The Brit was fully into the match as soon as the first point started, as she broke serve in the first game, jumping off to a lead at the start. Konta then managed to hold her serve to love comfortably and consolidated the break to affirm her lead. The world number ten then managed to extend her lead as she broke serve once more, with Siniakova still dishing out free points mainly due to her unforced errors. Konta’s offensive play continued to be effective and flourishing as the Czech was often overpowered when on the defense, and Konta’s big game proved too strong for her. Konta was strolling in the game as her backhand was at its best, and Siniakova was not able to be on the offense most of the time and was furthermore unable to turn defense into offense.
The Brit had a chance to close out the set with a bagel as she broke serve for the third time consecutively which gave her the opportunity to serve out the first set. However, Konta seemed to have some nerves affecting her during that game, as she was broken to love and allowed Siniakova to get onto the scoreboard. Konta did not let the break affect her, though, as she broke back immediately in the next game and clinch the first set 6-1 after just 23 minutes.
Siniakova takes the early lead and fights back
After a coaching time-out with her new coach, Wim Fissette, everything seems to go wrong for Konta as she was broken early in the second set to gift Siniakova the lead for the first time in the whole match. Siniakova came from 0-1 down to have a 3-1 lead after Konta hit a double fault on break point to gift the break. The second set was much of an improvement for the Czech, as her big forehands managed to trouble Konta, who was unable to handle the power of it at times. Siniakova then held the hard-earned lead all the way until the end of the set, as she successfully served out the set 6-4 to level the match at one set all.
Although Siniakova showed some nerves when serving out the match as Konta managed to earn a break point after saving break points with a good and effective offensive tennis, the Czech was still able to close out the set and handled the pressure well. It was not a poor set played by Konta as she only hit five unforced errors while hitting 14 winners, which does not reflect the scoreline well. It was only in the early stages of the set where Konta was overpowered by Siniakova which cost her the break.
Siniakova earns early advantage but gets pegged back
The Czech got off to a perfect start to the final set and put her in the driving seat after she broke Konta’s serve in the opening game of the set with some fearsome forehands which were once again able to trouble Konta. The Brit did not let the break affect her, and she maintained her composure to break straight back to level the final set and keep it on serve. Konta followed it up with a consolidation of the break, holding her serve to lead in the scoreline in the final set for the first time. Konta showed everyone her fighting spirit as she broke serve in the sixth game despite trailing 0-40 in that game. However, her celebrations were short-lived as Siniakova had a break of her own to fight back immediately. Another tight service game followed as Siniakova showed nerves of steel to hold her serve with Konta able to bring the game to deuce twice.
The Czech finally regained the lead she had early in the set, as she took advantage of a lucky net cord that went in favor of her to clinch another break and earn a chance to serve out the match. The Czech did just that, closing the match out after serving an ace to just claim her second top-10 victory of her young career, which all occurred here at the Shenzhen Open. This is definitely a dream run from Siniakova, who played the tournament of her life.
Siniakova proceeds to final
Siniakova now reaches just her third WTA singles final, and would either face Camila Giorgi or defending finalist Alison Riske there. Against both players, the Czech has a 1-0 record in their head-to-head record, and it would be a great chance for her to clinch her maiden WTA singles title.