Going by the rankings, this Miami Open women’s final is something of a surprise. Konta is No. 11 and Wozniacki is No. 14, and neither have been this far before at Crandon Park. But going strictly by 2017 form, it makes perfect sense. Konta is 18-3 so far this season, with a title in Sydney; Wozniacki is 23-6, and will be playing her third final in four events since the Australian Open. In Melbourne, though, Wozniacki was stopped in the third round by the woman who will be across the net from her on Saturday. Konta won that meeting—the only one between them so far—handily, 6-3, 6-1. The Brit was at her sharpest, and the Dane waited in vain for her to come back down to earth. Will Konta be that good again in Miami?
On Thursday, Wozniacki was able to turn the tables on another woman who had straight-setted her earlier this year, Karolina Pliskova. Can she find a way to keep Konta from attacking her, the way she has been attacking every opponent of late? Wozniacki did enough to throw off Pliskova and wear her down; it will be an interesting test of Wozniacki’s game right now, and going forward, to see if she can do it to Konta, too. If she waits for Konta to come down to earth again, it will probably be in vain. Winner: Konta