Jo Konta races past Elise Mertens in 65 minutes to set up Venus Williams clash
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Updated 25/03/2018 at 20:34 GMT
Jo Konta beat Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-1 in just 65 minutes to claim a place in the fourth round of the Miami Open.
Johanna Konta of Great Britain serves against Elise Mertens of Belgium in their third round match during the Miami Open Presented by Itau at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 25, 2018 in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Image credit: Getty Images
The Briton put on one of her best performances of the year to dispatch the Australian Open semi-finalist 6-2 6-1.
Konta, the defending champion, said on court afterwards: "I tried to take my game to her and managed to do that for big pockets of time, but it's never easy to come through so I'm really happy," Konta said.
"I definitely have a great relationship with this tournament, the biggest title of my career has come here. Hopefully I can get to the end again."
She will now face Venus Williams in the last 16 with the American fending off three match points before outlasting Dutch 29th seed Kiki Bertens 5-7 6-3 7-5 in a three-hour, third-round marathon.
The tournament looked like losing yet another big name when Williams fell behind 4-1 in the third set on centre court at Crandon Park in south Florida.
However, she remained more poised on the big points and eventually won on serve when Bertens could only tap the ball back across the net, allowing Williams to put away the winner.
"I'm not sure," eighth seed Williams said in an on-court interview when asked how she had pulled off the victory in a match that had 15 breaks of serve.
"I had a lot of chances; she had a lot of chances. It didn't look good sometimes but that's why you keep playing to the last point and why I love this game."
Venus's survival to fight another day came as the women's draw remained wide open after the earlier ousting of her sister Serena, along with top seed Simona Halep and last week's Indian Wells winner Naomi Osaka.
Additional reporting via Reuters.
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