ACAPULCO, Mexico – Sloane Stephens is through to her second WTA quarterfinal of the year at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, dispatching Olga Govortsova in straight sets.

The No.2 seeded American, who started off the year with a title in Auckland, was the highest-ranked player left in the draw after Victoria Azarenka withdrew earlier in the day due to a left wrist injury.

Stephens started out the match drawing first blood, breaking Govortsova’s serve at love. The Belarusian broke right back, and the two stayed level until Stephens came away with a second break after a tough game at 3-2. The nose ahead was what she needed to win the set, taking it 6-4 in a fierce line-to-line rally that saw Govortsova bury a forehand into the net at set point.

From then on Stephens was nearly untouchable. Govortsova threw every weapon in the book at her opponent but the American wouldn’t be denied, going on to close the match 6-4, 6-1.

“Today was good, I was happy to get the win,” Stephens said after the match. “I played solid – Govortosova is always a tough opponent to play.”

Stephens is set to face Naomi Osaka in the next round. The Japanese wildcard turned heads in Melbourne after her run to the third round of the Australian Open. Now She’s backing up those signs of promise, now into her career first WTA quarterfinal after a straight sets win over Mariana Duque-Mariño, 6-3, 7-6(5).

Great Britain’s Johanna Konta, however, came up short against the unseeded but always dangerous Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. The No.4 seed saved two match points in the third set, down 2-5 against the Croatian, and even managed to hang on to even things out at 5-5. She couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to Lucic-Baroni 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.