Miami Open: Johanna Konta beats Kirsten Flipkens in second round

Johanna Konta beat Venus Williams, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki to win the Miami Open title in 2017

Britain's Johanna Konta began her Miami Open title defence with a second-round win over Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens.

Konta, ranked 14th in the world, registered a 6-4 6-3 victory over the world number 71 in 84 minutes.

The 11th seed, who had a bye in round one, looked composed as she hit eight aces and 27 winners to set up a match against Elise Mertens after the Belgian defeated Bernarda Pera 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.

World number two Caroline Wozniacki lost to Olympic champion Monica Puig.

Wozniacki, who won the Australian Open in January, looked to be heading for a straightforward victory when she raced through the first set without dropping a game.

However, Puig, ranked 82 in the world, fought back to claim a 0-6 6-4 6-4 victory.

"It felt like Rio all over again," said the 24-year-old who became the first Puerto Rican athlete to win gold in any sport at the Olympics two years ago.

Elsewhere, Czech Petra Kvitova beat Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 3-6 6-3, and Ukraine's Elina Svitolina knocked out Indian Wells champion Naomi Osaka.

Japan's Osaka, who had won eight consecutive matches and beaten Serena Williams in the opening round, lost 6-4 6-2 to the world number four.

Number eight seed Venus Williams survived a scare to reach the third round with a 7-5 6-4 victory over world number 88 Natalia Vikhlyantseva.

The 37-year-old American trailed 5-2 in the first set and 3-0 in the second before fighting back to to win on the second match point when her 21-year-old Russian opponent smacked a forehand wide.

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Konta has won six and lost six of her 12 matches this season and, since her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals in July, has won just nine of her 20 matches.

She was knocked out in the second round at Indian Wells a fortnight ago and has to defend 1,000 ranking points in Miami to remain within the world's top 25.

The 26-year-old had five opportunities to break Flipkens in the fifth game of the first set, but the Belgian managed to hold in a game that lasted 10 minutes.

Konta broke to love in Flipkens' next service game to take a 4-3 lead, and she served strongly en route to wrapping up the first set.

She broke quickly in the second set but was forced to stave off a break point in the next game to consolidate her break, before wrapping up victory shortly afterwards.