Dominant Jo flows into final

BRITISH No.1 Johanna Konta booked a place in today’s final of the Aegon Open in Nottingham with a 6-2 7-5 win over Magdalena Rybarikova.

Top seed Konta, 26 (below) will play Donna Vekic for the big prize after the Croatian beat fifth seed Lucie Safarova from Czech Republic in the other semi-final.

Konta said: “It feels pretty good and I’m really happy to have made it to the end of the week.

“It was very humid and the moisture from the grass comes up, so it’s surprisingly hot and I just did my best to really deal with the conditions.”

Konta maintained her record of having yet to drop a set in the tournament as she closed in on her first WTA title on home soil.

She was quickly into her rhythm, breaking Rybarikova in the fifth game of the match. She did not look back, breaking the Slovakian again shortly afterwards to confidently take the opening set 6-2. Konta looked to be cruising as she broke in the first game of the second set. But to Rybarikova’s credit, she immediately hit back. Temperatures continued to soar and there was a break in play as medics helped a female spectator who was struggling with the heat, with Konta handing over her umbrella. The set went with serve until the 11th game when a double fault from Rybarikova gifted Konta the advantage before she served out the match.