WTA Miami Open review: Johanna Konta battles into R3

The British number one raced through the opening set but lost the second on the tie-break before she recovered her composure to close out a 6-2 6-7 (5/7) 6-4 victory in two hours and 40 minutes.

The Belarussian was broken in the fifth game of the opening set and the 10th-seeded Konta then went on to win five games in a row on her way to comfortably wrapping up the first set.

And she broke again after a brief rain delay to lead 4-2 and appeared to be set for a relatively straightforward passage into round three.

But Konta lost her concentration and was broken back and then had to save more break points as Sasnovich rallied strongly.

The rain returned in the tie-break with Sasnovich 4-2 up and after a 30-minute break the Belarussian closed it out 7-5 to level the match.

Konta broke in the deciding set for a 3-2 lead and served out to wrap up victory in a testing encounter.

Meanwhile, world number one Angelique Kerber opened her campaign with a hard-fought second-round win over Duan Ying-Ying in testing conditions under the lights.

Kerber secured a 7-6 (7/3) 6-2 win over the world number 66 to set up a third-round clash with Shelby Rogers, who ousted the 31st-seeded Daria Kasatkina.

"It is windy and it's really late, actually," Kerber said on court after the win. "I'm very happy about my win. It's always tough to play your first match here, especially with these conditions, it's really late. It's the middle of the night so thank you for staying!

"She's playing really hard and the serve is also very tough, so I was trying to move well and go for it. It was not easy with all the wind and everything, but I'm through and into the next round and that's what matters to me."

Indian Wells champion Elena Vesnina crashed out, losing in three sets to Ajla Tomljanovic.

Vesnina, the world number 13, beat Svetlana Kunetsova to claim the title in the Californian desert last week and looked to be on course for a place in the third round until qualifier Tomljanovic rallied in their match which was held over from Thursday after a thunderstorm.

The Croatian wild card had levelled the match before edging 5-3 ahead in a tight third set before the weather intervened. Vesnina twice double-faulted to hand Tomljanovic her first match points but the 23-year-old saw her chances go begging.

More service problems for Vesnina in the 12th game led to a third match point, although the weather struck yet again, but when they returned after a brief shower Tomljanovic clinched one of the biggest wins of her career and a third-round showdown with unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova.

Agnieszka Radwanska, the fifth seed, also crashed out, beaten by in straight sets by Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni.

Radwanska had no answer to the 26th seed, who eased to a 6-0 6-3 win in barely an hour.

Lucic-Baroni also beat Radwanska at the Australian Open in January, in the second round en route to the semi-finals, where she eventually fell to Serena Williams.

"She was playing unbelievable tennis today," Radwanska said.

"She was very solid from the beginning, very aggressive, hitting everything with unbelievable speed. I couldn't do much.

"The first set went so quickly, and in the second set I had chances, but I didn't come back and unfortunately I missed the chance to stay in the match. She was just too good today."

Venus Williams held of a spirited challenge from Beatriz Haddad Maia to secure a 6-4 6-3 win and the third-seeded Simona Halep was made to work hard for a 6-4 2-6 6-3 win over Naomi Osaka.

French Open champion Garbine Muguruza saved a match point against Christina McHale on her way to a 0-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-4 win but Madison Keys lost just three games on her way to beating Viktorija Golubic 6-1 6-2.

Fellow Romanians Patricia Maria Tig and Sorana Cirstea joined Halep in the third round, while qualifiers Anett Kontaveit and Taylor Townsend also advanced with wins over seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Roberta Vinci respectively.