Sunday, July 24, 2016

Venus, Konta to meet in Bank of the West final

   Venus Williams will seek her 50th career tour-level title today in the tournament where she began her career 22 years ago.
   Johanna Konta, meanwhile, will play in her first such final.
   But the final of the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford is no mismatch. Konta stunned the eighth-seeded Williams 6-4, 6-2 in their last meeting in the first round of the Australian Open in January en route to her first Grand Slam semifinal.
   Williams, seeded No. 1 in the Bank of the West Classic, held off unseeded Alison Riske 6-1, 7-6 (2) in an all-American semifinal on Saturday night.
   Earlier, No. 3 Konta of Great Britain defeated No. 2 Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia 6-4, 6-2. Cibulkova, the 2013 champion, played in her first tournament since getting married on July 9 in Bratislava.
   Williams, 36, is 1-1 against Konta, 25. They will meet at 2 p.m. PDT in a match televised by ESPN2.
   Afterward, No. 2 seeds Raquel Atawo (formerly Kops-Jones) of San Jose and Abigail Spears of Colorado Springs, Colo., will try to win their second Bank of the West title. The 2013 champions will face No. 3 seeds Darija Jurak of Croatia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia.
   Jurak and Rodionova topped unseeded Konta and Maria Sanchez, who was born and raised in Modesto, 6-4, 6-2.
   Here are links to the singles and doubles draws and today's schedule.

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