Konta survives scare to progress in China

Johanna Konta showed all her fighting spirit as she survived a scare to advance past Vania King in the second round of the Shenzhen Open.
Johanna KontaJohanna Konta
Johanna Konta

The British number one, seeded third, was a set and a break down to the world number 78 before mounting a fine recovery to win 1-6 6-3 6-2.

Konta, who is looking to build on a stellar 2016 which saw her climb the rankings into the top 10, was on the back foot after King had raced to the opening set in just 26 minutes, breaking twice.

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And after the American broke again early in the second set Konta was staring down the barrel, trailing 3-1 and seemingly set for an early exit.

However, she reeled off five successive games to level things up and, in doing so, shattered her opponent’s confidence.

An early break in the deciding set then asserted Konta’s control, sending her through to a quarter-final tie with either Kristyna Pliskova or Zhang Kai-Lin.

In the first round she enjoyed a comfortable 6-2 6-0 first-round victory over Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay in under an hour.

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