Johanna Konta through to third round of Wuhan Open
Tuesday 27 September 2016 16:35, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta kept pace in her bid to reach the WTA Finals by advancing through to the third round of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Konta is 10th in the Road to Singapore, with only the top eight qualifying, and after Carla Suarez Navarro and Madison Keys, who are placed eighth and ninth respectively, both booked their place in the last 16 in China, Konta followed suit with a 6-3 6-3 win over Shuai Zhang.
And now she has a golden chance to close the gap on Spaniard Suarez Navarro, who is 273 points ahead, as they meet in the next round on Wednesday.
Victory would see Konta gain a minimum of 85 points on her opponent, but with just two more tournaments until Singapore, the 25-year-old realistically has to go deep in Wuhan if she is to become the first Brit since Virginia Wade in 1980 to reach the end-of-season finals.
There was never any doubt about her advancement from the second round as she upset the locals by dumping out the last Chinese player standing.
There were two breaks in the first set amid some flawless hitting as she ran Zhang ragged. A closer tussle looked on the cards in the second set until Konta regained her range and saw the match out.
Looking ahead to her clash with Suarez Navarro, Konta said: "I'm actually really looking forward to it. I don't think we
actually ever played against each other on the tour yet. That's always fun. Something different, something new.
"We've practised together a few times. She's an incredibly talented player, a very good player. I'm really looking forward to being on court with her.
"I haven't had too much time to think about exactly what to think about going into it. I need to chat to my coach about it. But I'm looking forward to the challenge.
"I'm just happy to have played such a tough match today and also being able to come through that. I don't think the scoreline quite reflects how tough the match was. There wasn't much in it for it to be going either way really. I really had to stay tough."
Germany's Angelique Kerber remains a possible quarter-final opponent for Konta after the top seed defeated Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 6-7 (4-7) 6-1 6-4.
Second seed Garbine Muguruza bowed out in the second round with a 6-4 7-6 (7-2) loss to Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.
