Johanna Konta became the first British woman to win the Miami Open, on Saturday as she notched a dominant 6-4, 6-3 win over Caroline Wozniacki.

This was the 25-year-old Briton’s biggest title career trophy and the biggest title won by a British woman in 40 years, since Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977. Konta’s first title at a Premier 1 event, it will take her to World No 7, her highest ranking till date.

Konta remarkable 2017 season stands at 19-3, with two titles and wins over Wozniacki, Simona Halep, Venus Williams, and Agnieszka Radwanska.

Konta’s rise over the last year

Konta’s current coach is Wim Fissette, who has previously worked with Halep, and the results are showing.

The 25-year-old is often referred to as a late bloomer, as her steady rise only came over the last two years. She was ranked 150th at the end of 2014 and rose to 47th in 2015, but her biggest improvement came in 2016.

Of the four WTA finals she has reached, she has won three. Konta won her first title about eight months back, beating Venus Williams in the Stanford, California final. She followed it with the Sydney title early this year. She had lost to Agnieszka Radwanska in the final of the China Open in Beijing in October.

This was only her second appearance at the Miami Open, and the current champion couldn’t qualify for the main draw in 2015. Instead, she had played an event in Jackson, where the entire field’s prize money was $25,000. However, this win entitles her to a prize money $950,000, according to Tennis.com.

Great Britain’s No 1

Konta was born in Sydney and represented Australia until 2012, before moving to Great Britain.

Today, she is the current British No 1 and won the biggest title by a British woman since 1977. No British woman had ever won a premier mandatory WTA event since it was introduced.

In fact, no British woman had even made the quarter-finals in Miami, till Konta last year.

British tennis’ women’s tour hasn’t enjoyed great success in the recent past, unlike the men’s tour where Andy Murray is the World No. 1. After 1977, the year Virginia Wade won Wimbledon, Jo Durie won a title in Sydney, Sara Gomer in Aptos and Annabel Croft in San Diego, before Konta won the most prestigious of them at Miami, says The Telegraph.

The next expected step will be a Grand Slam title, with the clay court season coming up. Her best Grand Slam performance was at the 2016 Australian Open, where reached the semi-finals, and in 2017 she lost out in the quarter-finals to eventual champion Serena Williams.

However, Konta believes that she has what it takes to be a major champion. “I think I’ve always had the belief of wanting to become a Grand Slam champion, wanting to become the best in the world,” Konta was quoted as saying after her win.

With her record in 2017, it seems quite likely that we will see much more of Johanna Konta in the last four at major tournaments.