Konta, Wozniacki in final

The clock had ticked past midnight and most of the crowd had long since departed before Konta eventually put away the 36-year-old Williams after more than two hours of attrition on the Crandon Park hardcourt. The 10th seed will play Caroline Wozniacki in Saturday’s final after the Danish 12th seed won an even longer semi-final, 5-7 6-1 6-1 against second seed Karolina Pliskova to kick off the day’s action.

The final will be Konta’s second of the season after the world number 11 won the Sydney International in January, with the Briton meeting Wozniacki for a second time following her third round win over the Dane at this year’s Australian Open.

Roger Federer stared down defeat and saved two match points before knocking Tomas Berdych out of the Miami Open on Thursday with a 6-2 3-6 7-6(6) victory in their thrilling  quarter-final. Federer will next face Nick Kyrgios on Friday after the 12th seeded Australian edged German teenager Alexander Zverev 6-4 6-7(9) 6-3 in an evening quarter-final, finally clinching victory on his sixth match point. Swiss magician Federer had to call upon all his resources of skill, poise and experience to edge the Czech in a third set tiebreak in front of a frenzied crowd at Crandon Park.