Johanna Konta reached the second round of the Connecticut Open with a straight-sets win over Laura Siegemund.
The British number one boosted her confidence ahead of next week's US Open with a 6-2 7-5 victory in New Haven.
Konta had lost her two previous meetings to Siegemund, but the German spent 10 months out of the game after tearing a cruciate ligament in her knee in May 2017.
Siegemund has tumbled from 37 to 146 in the world rankings - exactly 100 places below Konta - and looked rusty at the start of her first hard court match this year before improving in a fiercely-competitive second set.
"I knew coming into the match Laura is one of the best competitors out there regardless of how many matches she's played since she's come back," Konta said on BT Sport.
"She's always tough to play and her level got better and better from the first to the second set.
"So I just tried to knuckle down, keep doing what I did in the first set, and trust that was going to give me opportunities."
Konta broke twice and won her first two service games to love, racing in to a 4-0 lead before a fourth ace closed out the set in 31 minutes.
The second set was a much tighter affair after Konta broke Siegemund's serve again in the opening game.
Siegemund fought back to level at 3-3 after Konta had double faulted on game point.
The set looked to be heading towards a tie-break, but successive double faults from Siegemund allowed Konta to serve out and set up a last-16 meeting with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.
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