RT Konta hopes to have final word
WARRINGTON captain Chris Hill is confident his side can shake off their hoodoo against St Helens in tonight’s sudden-death play-off semi-final.
The Wolves have beaten their rivals only 11 times in the two decades since the Super League began, whereas Saints have racked up 44 victories during that time.
Warrington are bidding to reach the Grand Final for only the third time and underlined their credentials by winning at Hull FC last week to clinch the League Leaders’ Shield.
England prop Hill said: “We’ve just not performed against Saints. We wanted to do the Treble this year, but we missed out on the Challenge Cup and won the League Leaders’ Shield.
“The Super League title is the one we really want to win.”
Saints have signed Scotland forward Luke Douglas on a three-year deal from Gold Coast Titans. JOHANNA KONTA is homing in on a ticket to the WTA Finals in Singapore, but do not mention it to her.
Britain’s No1, the world No13, survived more than two hours of nailbiting tension, some exceptional winners and some alarming errors to beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-5, 7-6 yesterday and reach the quarter-finals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Suarez Navarro is currently occupying the eighth and final berth in the Singapore field and when the day began, she was 331 points ahead of Konta. By close of play, the Briton had closed that gap to 246 points and, should she beat Petra Kvitova today, she will be just 86 points adrift of that coveted Singapore spot. Kvitova took three hours and 19 minutes to beat Angelique Kerber 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 yesterday. Konta refuses to look too far ahead. “If it’s in the cards for me, if I get to be a part of Singapore, then that will be a great achievement,” she said.