Nottingham Open: Konta beats Rybarikova to reach final

Johanna Konta reached the final of the Nottingham Open for the first time with a tidy victory over Slovakia’s Magdalena Rybarikova.
Konta won 68 points compared to Magdalena Rybarikova’s 56
The British number one registered a 6-2 7-5 win over the world number 117 to reach her first grass final. Konta broke her opponent early as she powered through the first set before upping the tempo at the end of the second to secure victory.
She will face either Croat Donna Vekic or Czech Lucie Safarova today.
In hot conditions, Konta pushed her opponent deep behind the baseline as she broke in the fourth game of the opening set.
Rybarikova, frustrated when several calls from the umpire went against her, fought back in the second with some clever play at the net.
She served four aces to put the pressure on Konta’s second serve, but the Briton held her nerve in the penultimate game to get the break. Konta controlled the final match, a long forehand proving to be the only mistake.
“It feels pretty good and I’m really happy to have made it to the end of the week,” Konta said.
“It’s very humid, the moisture from the grass comes up, so it’s surprisingly hot out here. We just did our best to really deal with the conditions today.”
Elsewhere, British number three Naomi Broady lost her Aegon Trophy semi-final in Manchester in one hour and 23 minutes.
The 27-year-old, ranked 115th in the world, lost 6-3 6-4 to world number 207 Zarina Diyas of Kazakhstan.