Williams holds off strong challenge from Riske
STANFORD, Calif. — Top-seeded Venus Williams ran all over the court to extend long points and overcame her inconsistent serve before a dominant tiebreaker, holding off gutsy fellow American and native of Peters Township Alison Riske 6-1, 7-6 (2) on Saturday night to reach the Bank of the West final.
Leading 5-4 in the second set with a chance to close it out, Williams squandered a pair of match points when she committed three straight double-faults. Even when the 36-year-old Williams missed her first serve, the big kick on the second attempt regularly set up her up to dictate points early in the match before she struggled to stay in rhythm in the second.
Williams breezed to take a quick one-set lead until Riske found a groove and returned well. She dug out shots with her strong baseline game to keep pressure on Williams, who looked like vintage Venus for much of the match on an especially hot summer night for the Bay Area.
Williams advanced to the championship Sunday against Johanna Konta, who beat Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 6-2 in the first semifinal to reach her first career final. Konta also became the first British woman to reach the championship match at Stanford since Virginia Wade was runner-up in 1981.