Johanna Konta beats Dominika Cibulkova to reach final in Stanford

Konta was ranked 147th in the world just 13 months ago

British number one Johanna Konta is through to the first WTA final of her career after beating world number 12 Dominika Cibulkova in Stanford, USA.

Konta, ranked 18th, played superbly to win 6-4 6-2 and set up a final against Venus Williams (22:00 BST on Sunday).

The 25-year-old Briton hit seven aces and dropped just six points on serve as she won in one hour and 14 minutes.

"It's just a release of emotions," said a jubilant Konta, who later lost in the doubles semi-finals with Maria Sanchez.

Konta and her American partner Sanchez were beaten 6-4 6-2 by Darija Jurak of Croatia and Australian Anastasia Rodionova.

But asked about her singles success against Cibulkova, she said: "I needed to do a very good job of just focusing on myself.

"It was about focusing on breathing and enjoying playing in front of such a great crowd."

Top seed Williams beat fellow American Alison Riske 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to progress.

Konta reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January, and again at Eastbourne in June.

She is playing her first tournament since losing to Eugenie Bouchard in the second round at Wimbledon last month and is the first British woman to reach the final at Stanford since Virginia Wade was runner-up in 1981.