Johanna Konta hammers Gabriela Dabrowski in Pan Pacific Open first round
Tuesday 18 September 2018 13:26, UK
Johanna Konta eased into the last 16 of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo with a straight-sets win over world No 541 Gabriela Dabrowski.
The British No 1 took just 65 minutes to beat the Canadian 6-2 6-0, winning 10 straight games.
She will play Croatia's Donna Vekic in the next round after she knocked out fifth-seeded Sloane Stephens 6-4 6-4.
Should Konta progress she would set up a revenge quarter-final with her US Open conqueror Caroline Garcia, providing the Frenchwoman beats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Konta has struggled for form this year, having risen to world No 4 in 2017, and was knocked out of the US Open in the first round by Garcia last month.
But it was a comfortable victory for the 27-year-old in Japan against Dabrowski.
The opening set went with serve for the first five games but Konta made her first break point in the sixth count to move into a 4-2 lead and spark her match-winning streak.
She held her own serve before breaking Dabrowski again, cashing in on her second set point to take it 6-2.
Konta, who never dropped serve, raced into a 5-0 lead in the second set, breaking her opponent twice.
She then converted her fourth match point, breaking Dabrowski for a third time in the set, to clinch victory.
Following her victory, Konta told wtatennis.com: "It was a tough match - the scoreline didn't show the quality of it. She definitely played really well in parts and I had to really raise my level to come through that.
"I had to be tough out there. She was playing some great tennis. I had to focus on every single point and accept she was going to play some good tennis.
"I thought it was an entertaining match, and I'm looking forward to playing another one here."
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