Tennis: No drama as Konta races into US Open fourth round
Johanna Konta reached the US Open round of 16 with 6-2, 6-1 win over Belinda Bencic.
NEW YORK (AFP) - Two days after collapsing in the New York heat en route to a three-set second-round victory, Britain s Johanna Konta reached the US Open round of 16 with no fuss.
The 13th-seeded Briton, who broke through for her first WTA title in Stanford in July, overwhelmed 24th-seeded Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-1.
She fired 29 winners against Bencic, who bore little resemblance to the youngster who reached the quarter-finals in 2014.
"I felt I did a good job just staying focused on the things I want to execute and how I wanted to play," Konta said. "I definitely made it hard for her to get into the match, I felt.
At no time during her 52 minutes on court did Konta seem to feel any ill-effects from the second-round scare that saw her slump gasping to the court, her body shaking, as she served to try to force a second-set tiebreaker in what evolved into a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova on Wednesday.
Konta, who said she was embarrassed by the "drama" of the incident, was pleased that she was able to move on successfully.
"I think I m still constantly working on recovering," she said. "I think it s a management process more than anything. But I feel good. I feel well enough to play."
She has now matched her best US Open performance -- last year s run to the round of 16 after qualifying into the main draw.
Next up as she tries to improve on her best Grand Slam showing, a semi-final run at the Australian Open in January, is Anastasija Sevastova, the 48th-ranked Latvian who toppled French Open champion Garbine Muguruza before beating Kateryna Bondarenko in the third round.
"I m really happy with how I was able to just really focus on the match at hand and the work at hand and then put all else out of my mind."
