Johanna Konta defeats Arina Rodionova in first round of Apia International Sydney

Johanna Konta eased into the second round of the Apia International Sydney with a straight sets win over lucky loser Arina Rodionova.

The British No 1, fresh from making the semi-final of the Shenzhen Open in China last week, got past the Australian 6-3 6-4 in sweltering conditions.

Konta is building up for next week's Australian Open, where she made the semi-finals last year, and got the job done to set up a second-round meeting with either Daria Gavrilova or Donna Vekic.

She made the decisive break of the first set to go 4-2 up before fending off two break-back points when serving out the set.

The second looked like being a far easier affair as she took Rodionova's first three serves to lead 5-1 before suffering a minor wobble, which saw the world No 187 win three games on the bounce.

But Konta served it out at the second attempt as her good start to 2017 continues.