MONTREAL, Canada -- British No.1 Johanna Konta overcame both an overnight rain delay and a test from a two-time Grand Slam champion, dispatching former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka, 6-3, 6-1, to move into the third round of the Rogers Cup on Thursday.

"It’s never easy starting off a match in the middle of it," Konta told the press, after the match, which was suspended on Wednesday at 6-3, 3-0. "You have to recreate kind of that focus, that feeling, that adrenaline which usually only comes when you’ve been on the court for a period of time and there’s been ebbs and flows."

"I really just tried to almost disregard the score, be clear on what I wanted to do out there, and how I wanted to play," Konta continued. "However long it took would be however long it took, and I’m just happy I was able to come through that in four games."

Azarenka had triumphed in their last meeting as part of her championship run in Miami in 2016, but Konta was utterly dominant over the two days of this recent encounter, moving past the three-time Rogers Cup semifinalist after 83 minutes of play.

Konta was never broken in the match, as Azarenka could not convert any of the four break points she held in the match -- three of which came in the final game. The Brit had 20 winners to 17 unforced errors, while Azarenka could only muster up seven winners, compared to 16 unforced errors over both days.

Konta will now have to make a quick turnaround to face No.5 seed Elina Svitolina in a second singles match of the day, later on Thursday. Svitolina entered the third round after new Top 20 entrant Mihaela Buzarnescu was forced to retire after suffering a jarring ankle injury during the third set of their second-round match on Wednesday.

"I’ve played [Svitolina] a few times before, I don’t think I’ve beaten her yet," said Konta, who indeed is 0-3 against the Ukrainian. "She’s a great player, she’s been in the Top 10 consistently for the past two years now, so I’m looking forward to playing another great player like her."

A closely-contested opening set was cracked open by Konta when the Brit claimed the initial break at 3-3, slamming a forehand service return at 30-40 for a clean winner, and edging ahead. Konta quickly took advantage, holding at love to force Azarenka to serve to stay in the set. 

The Belarusian opened the 5-3 game with a double fault, and swiftly spiraled from there, setting Konta up with triple set point due to unforced errors. The first two were fended off by Azarenka, but a backhand error into the net on the third gave Konta the one-set lead.

As the first set concluded, Konta pulled ahead with pace and consistency while Azarenka slid into unforced errors -- the Belarusian had nine unforced errors, to only five winners. By contrast, Konta ended the set with ten winners to only six unforced errors.

Azarenka finally held her first break point of the match in the first game of the second set, but Konta erased it with a strong serve that drew a netted return, and eventually held for 1-0. Konta then broke for 2-0 and held once more before the rain appeared with the Brit up 3-0. After a period of uncertainty, play was called off for the day.

When resumption occurred on Thursday afternoon, Konta picked up exactly where she left off, using deep, penetrating backhands to smother Azarenka and break to start the day for a 4-0 lead.

Azarenka finally got on the board in the set with a hold for 5-1, and then knocked off powerful groundstrokes in a last-ditch attempt to work herself into the match, staving off two match points and then grasping three break points as Konta served for the match.

But unforced errors caused a visibly frustrated Azarenka to squander those opportunities, and Konta eventually reached match point for a third time behind some well-placed, strong serves. There, Azarenka sent a final backhand awry, allowing Konta to claim a third-round date with Svitolina later in the day.