Wednesday 11 May 2016 17:13, UK
British No 1 Johanna Konta's fine season continued as she defeated seventh-seed Roberta Vinci 6-0 6-4 to reach round three of the Italian Open in Rome.
But Heather Watson is out after she was beaten in straight sets by Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, having failed to capitalise on an excellent start.
Konta appeared likely to have her hands full against last year's US Open finalist, who could be sure of raucous backing from a partisan home crowd.
But Konta was sensational in the opening set, losing a mere seven points as she powered through it without dropping a game.
Vinci stopped the rot after seven games and gave the crowd far more encouragement in the second set, breaking the Konta serve twice.
But Konta held her nerve well, breaking serve three times herself and eventually serving out the match after just under an hour and a quarter.
British No 2 Watson won the opening four games against Strycova but then lost 12 of the next 14 to slip to defeat.
The British No 2's second serve was exploited by the Czech, who won 19 of the 27 points on which Watson missed her first delivery.
There was a notable win for 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard, who defeated Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber 6-1 5-7 5-7.
It was the second straight week Kerber has lost her opening match, following her early exit in Madrid.
Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza easily defeated Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-1 6-0 while Madrid quarter-finalist Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania upset injured fourth seed Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-2.
The Belarusian withdrew with lower back pain last week from Madrid and said after this loss: "The back is not good right now. I'm very disappointed, obviously, with that.
"I thought I was okay and was ready to play and came back. We'll see what happens, I'm not going to think about the future."
