Heather Watson collected her second top-40 scalp of the fledgling 2015 season with an impressive 6-3 6-1 victory over No.5 seed Sloane Stephens at the Hobart International.
The British No.1, who beat tournament top seed Casey Dellacqua at the Hopman Cup in Perth, weathered a tricky start before producing some irresistible tennis from the midpoint of the first set, winning nine of the last 10 games to surge through the second-round encounter in 64 minutes.
It was a sparkling display from Watson, who turned defence into attack time and again as Stephens failed to find a way to throw the 22-year-old off her game.
“There’s always room for improvement, but today maybe very little!” admitted Watson, who will face Roberta Vinci in the quarter-finals. “Sloane is a great competitor, she stays solid throughout, so I knew I was going to have to win it.
“I thought to myself, no matter what happens in the match I’m going to stay aggressive from the first point to the last, and I think I did that pretty well today.”
The British No.1 came into the match with a 3-0 career head-to-head lead against the former Australian Open semi-finalist, but her last win came in 2012, since when she has battled illness and injury before returning to the top 50 in late 2014.
Stephens brought up break point on the Watson serve in the opening game and pinned Watson back with some fearsome hitting early on, but the Briton was soon threatening herself, reading her opponent’s game at will and firing winners off both wings.
The pressure told with Stephens serving at 3-4, the world No.34 tossing in a double-fault on her third break point of the game to leave Watson to serve out the set in 37 minutes.
From there the 22-year-old world No.49 could do no wrong, breaking twice more as she notched up seven games in a row to open up a 4-0 lead. Stephens got herself on the board with a hold at 4-1 but Watson continued to push for a fourth break, sealing victory with a smash.
“There wasn’t anything in my game that was bad,” Stephens said. “I made a lot of balls in play but she didn’t make many errors, and she was really solid on serve. I didn’t give it to her – she played a good match.”