Johanna Konta pleased with tough workout ahead of Miami Open last-16
BySportsbeat
Updated 26/03/2017 at 21:15 GMT
Johanna Konta admitted she was given a tougher test than the scoreline suggested after easing through to the last-16 of the Miami Open with victory over Pauline Parmentier.
The British No.1 prevailed 6-4 6-0 in just 63 minutes, delivering a more fluent performance than the two hour 40 minutes she needed to beat qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich earlier in the competition.
A marked improvement in serve and return saw Konta drop just five points in the entire second set, all after the first six games of the opener had gone with serve.
But despite the emphatic response, the competition's tenth seed felt it was not as straightforward a victory as some may have expected against the Frenchwoman who almost defeated world No.1 Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells.
"I'm happy to have come through that," Konta said. "Although the scoreline doesn't show it in the second set, I still had to work hard within every single point. I really tried hard not to take my foot off the gas and stay focused on what I wanted to achieve.
"She's been very strong with her forehand, and her serve is actually quite a big weapon, as well. I was quite happy with how I could neutralize it and look towards having good variety on my returns.
"I also made it difficult for her to find her spots on the forehand; I didn't give her too many opportunities to set up, because when she does, she can be very tough to play.
"The bonus of getting through any match is having the opportunity to play again. I have another opportunity to get better and to perform well.
"Those stats obviously look better on paper, and that's good to hear. There's other moving factors in a match, but I was still very happy I was able to stick with my plan and not divert from that in any way.
Konta now goes on to face either American eighth seed Madison Keys or Lara Arruabarrena of Spain for a place in the quarter-finals.
Victory in that match would see her match her best Miami Open result from 12 months ago, where she lost out to Victoria Azarenka, who went on to lift the title.
But despite not feeling as if she is playing her best tennis, the world No.11 knows that only improvements can be made if she remains in competition.
"Each match puts forward different challenges, so it's hard to compare and decide which has been my best performance," she added.
"My first round was very good, for example, because I could get through a difficult situation. Today was a cleaner match, so in that sense, it was also a good performance.
"I played Madison in Beijing last year. I think I played Lara once before, but not for many years. We all know Madison has a big game, so if I end up playing her, I'll be expecting to play someone with a lot of weight of shot.
"I haven't watched Lara play too much, but she's been around a while and won a title at the end of last year. She's a tough player, so either way it'll be a tough match."
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