Johanna Konta reaches Sydney final as Dan Evans secures maiden top-10 scalp

Great Britain's Johanna Konta has sealed her place in the final of the 2017 Apia International Sydney. The world number 10 moved one step closer to winning the Australian Open warm-up event after easing past last-four opponent Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-2 in a time of just 68 minutes at Ken Rosewall Arena.

Australia-born Konta reeled off seven straight games after being tied at 2-2 in the first set and faced few problems thereafter to set up a rematch of October's China Open final against 2013 champion Agnieszka Radwanska, who had earlier secured an emphatic victory over Barbora Strycova. The Pole won that previous high-profile meeting between the pair 6-4, 6-2 in Beijing.

"I'm really actually looking forward to having another match against Aga," Konta, who also lost to Radwanska at last year's Cincinnati Masters, said afterwards. "She's been at the top of the game for so many years. Honestly, I can't remember when she wasn't in the top 10 or five.

"And that says so much about her as a competitor more than anything else. Everyone knows she's the Ninja. I'm just looking forward to the challenge, and I'm looking forward to trying again. Hopefully, I will be able to play some good tennis."

In the men's tournament, Dan Evans booked a semi-final date with Andrey Kuznetsov after bouncing back from an early deficit to shock number one seed Dominic Thiem 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a major upset. It was the resurgent British number three's first-ever win against a top-10 ranked singles player.

"It's probably my best (win beating Thiem)," Evans said. "It was a good match. Fought really hard to try and get the win and come out on top. I tried to come forward a bit more in the second set, so I played the first set sort of on his terms. Didn't have much to lose. Just hung in there and come forward. Yeah, it was good.

"I believed I could win going out onto the court (tonight). It wasn't the case I was scared in the first set. He just played better. I wasn't panicked after the first set. I just had to come out in the second set try and get on top of it. That's what I did. (This result is) great for next week, as well. It's great start for my year. I have a lot of (ranking) points coming off the start of this year, so it's a great help."

Elsewhere, Britain have no female singles players remaining in Australian Open qualifying after Laura Robson and Tara Moore were eliminated in the first round with respective defeats at the hands of Amandine Hesse and Dalma Galfi respectively.