Konta leads head-to-head record 2-0 over Watson, with last meeting coming in Indian Wells last year which British No 1 won 6-4 6-4
Tuesday 12 June 2018 20:31, UK
Johanna Konta eased past Japan's Kurumi Nara to set up an all-British duel against Heather Watson at the Nottingham Open.
British No 1 Konta came through against Nara in her first grass-court singles match of the year.
The world No 22 won 6-2 6-3 to reach the last 16 of the tournament, where she will play fellow Brit Watson on Thursday.
Watson bounced back from her shock Surbiton Trophy defeat to Gabriella Taylor last week to move into the second round with a convincing win.
The 26-year-old Watson needed only 73 minutes to claim a 6-1 6-3 victory over American world No 252 Danielle Lao.
Katie Boulter, 21, produced a superb display to upset Yanina Wickmayer 6-4 6-4 and set up a second-round meeting with veteran Australian Samantha Stosur.
British No 5 Taylor pushed defending champion Donna Vekic all the way before losing her first-round match.
Having beaten Watson at Surbiton, Taylor almost repeated the feat as she grabbed an early break in the deciding set.
But Vekic, who required extensive physio on a back injury early in the third, dug deep to come through 7-5 5-7 7-6 (7-3) in a marathon match that fell four minutes short of three hours.
Nevertheless it was another promising performance from the 20-year-old Taylor, who reached a career-best 168 in the world last week.
Katie Swan went down 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 to Germany's world No 117 Mona Barthel.
We will return for more tennis coverage from the ATP Tour when we head to Germany for the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, live on Sky Sports Arena from 11am on Monday, 18 June.
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