Johanna Konta destroys Belinda Bencic to make last 16

Konta, the 13th seed, dominated from the start against the 24th seed, barely breaking a sweat – quite a relief, considering the physical struggles which she battled in her second round match, during which she collapsed in shocking heat.

Ths time there was no such drama, the Swiss simply having no answer to Konta's power and shotmaking: the English star lost just one point on her first serve.

"I feel overwhelmingly happy," said Konta, who notched up 29 winners.

"I felt I did a good job playing the match at hand and I focused all my energies into this match here. I was happy how I dealt with things."

Next up for Konta is Anastasija Sevastova, the world number 48, on paper at least offering a straightforward passage to the quarter-finals.

But Sevastova has been in top form in New York this week: she was responsible for knocking out Garbine Mugurza, and looked impressive when beating veteran Kateryna Bondarenko on Friday.

The British number one will be favourite to progress deeper into the tournament, but insisted after her match that it's all about making sure that "whenever I step out on court I'll give it 100 per cent".

If she does that, she'll be tough to beat. Eurosport expert Annabel Croft said that the 25-year-old was "absolutely breathtaking from the word go", while Greg Rusedski predicted that she will "make it to the semi-finals - and maybe further."