March Madness #7: Konta emerges as piranha

It's madness, I tell you! Fuzzy yellow ball style. Follow along this week for our Top 17 takeaways and outtakes from the 2017 Sunshine Double in California and Florida.

Check out No. 8 here.

Johanna Konta’s versatile, powerful championship-point play against Caroline Wozniacki in the Miami Open final may have been a harbinger of even more to come.

It included a refreshing mix of shots. It found her victorious in decisive straight sets against Wozniacki for the second time in a matter of weeks. It saw her shoot to the champion’s podium for the first time at a Premier Mandatory event. And it propelled her to No. 7 in the world in the WTA Tour rankings, her highest slot to date.

That match-point lob found the line and also found Konta beating Wozniacki at her own shtick, just as she had ultimately out-hit the steamrolling Venus Williams in the Miami semifinals.

Those are not alternative facts. They should give pause to anyone facing Konta the rest of this year. Tsvetana Pironkova may have assumed the nickname “Piranha” from TV commentator Brad Gilbert in past years, basically in light of her strong Wimbledon play, but Konta has flat-out earned it in recent weeks. She moves well, her shots have true bite and she’s hungry for more.

Clay and grass courts haven’t been her cups of tea quite yet, but with renewed confidence and a steely desire to win, you might be looking at a Top 4 seed from the Championships’ home country once the tour winds around to Wimbledon.