Hobart International: Heather Watson through but Konta out

Heather Watson's win in Hobart in 2015 was her second - and last - WTA title

Defending champion Heather Watson took just one hour and 13 minutes to beat Brazilian Teliana Pereira at the Hobart International.

Watson, the world number 53, won 6-3 6-0 and will now face Romanian fourth seed Monica Niculescu in round two.

But British number one Johanna Konta is out after a first-round defeat by Slovakia's third seed, Dominika Cibulkova.

Konta lost 7-6 (8-6) 7-5 after failing to convert five first-set points.

"It doesn't happen every day that you win a tie-break from 1-6 down against such a good serving player," said Cibulkova, 26.

There were no such problems for Watson, 23, as she served seven aces in a dominant win against the world number 46.

Former Wimbledon finalist, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, made it through but American Madison Brengle and Czech Barbora Strycova, seeded fifth and sixth respectively, are out of the tournament, the former after retiring because of a respiratory illness when trailing 6-0 1-1.

Strycova lost 6-4 6-4 to Sweden's Johanna Larsson.