Johanna Konta takes revenge on Bernarda Pera

Lucky loser Pera stunned Konta in the second round in Melbourne last month but the world number 11 survived a shaky first set to win 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 in Doha.

Konta’s loss in Australia was another sign of her fragile confidence after her poor end to last season but she arrived in the Middle East boosted by three victories for Great Britain’s Fed Cup team.

In a topsy-turvy opening set, Konta saw a 3-0 lead slip away and then had to recover from 6-5 30-0, breaking Pera as she served for the set.

After prevailing in the tie-break, Konta began to look a lot more comfortable and raced through the second set to move through to a second-round clash with either Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro or Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine.