Johanna Konta has defeated Venus Williams to claim her first WTA title at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.
The British number one suffered with nerves as she approached a famous win but she managed to keep her composure long enough to run out a 7-5 5-7 6-2 winner.
Konta set the tone for the opening half of a thrilling contest by breaking in Williams's second service game and although she failed to serve it out at the first opportunity, she broke again before sealing a deserved advantage.
The 25-year-old appeared to be coasting to victory when she went a double-break up in the second set, but errors began to creep into Konta's game and Williams piled on the pressure to win six out of the last seven games to force a decider.
Losing a match of such significance could have potentially hindered Konta for the remainder of the US swing but she showed the battling qualities which have resulted in her becoming one of best hitters in the women's game to move a double-break up for the second time in the match.
There would be more drama as an anxious Konta squandered two match points, but each mistake was being cancelled out by her trademark aggressive tennis and she was finally able to celebrate the biggest win of her career after two hours and 18 minutes.
Konta will move up to a career-high of 14 in the WTA rankings on Monday, while she now sits in ninth place in the Race to Singapore standings.
Darren Plant
