China Open: Britain's Johanna Konta loses final to Agnieszka Radwanska

AFP/Getty Images
Standard Sport9 October 2016

Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska won the China Open on Sunday with a straight sets defeat of Britain's Johanna Konta.

Third seed Radwanska won 6-4 6-2 to claim her second win in two attempts against Konta.

The British number one fought off a first match point in the seventh game of the second set but Radwanska completed victory while serving in the next game to win in one hour 35 minutes.

Konta, the 11th seed, had reason to celebrate despite the defeat as she became only the fourth British woman to make the world's top 10 since the WTA rankings began in 1975.

The 25-year-old was ranked 146th in the world as recently as June 2015, but she climbed into the top 10 by winning her semi-final.

She defeated Madison Keys 7-6 (7/1) 4-6 6-4 to become the first British female since Jo Durie in 1984 to make the top 10.

Virginia Wade and Sue Barker are the other British females to have been ranked in the world's top 10.

By reaching the China Open final, Konta also moved into the top eight of the Road to Singapore - the race to reach the WTA Finals later this month.

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