Heather Watson moved into the quarter-finals of the Mexican Open with a straight sets victory over Kateryna Bondarenko.

The 27 year-old, who has not won a WTA title since she triumphed at the Monterrey Open in Mexico in March 2016, saw off her Ukrainian opponent 7-6 (2) 6-2 in one hour and 47 minutes.

After a first set of poor serving from both players and a total of eight breaks, Watson dominated the tie-break to put one foot in the last eight.

And the Brit decisively raced into a 3-0 lead at the start of the second to book her place in the quarter-finals.

After the match, she said: "I know that Kateryna is a really tough player. She's very aggressive, and I just played her recently at the end of last year.

"I knew what to expect, and she's playing a lot better now, so she's a very dangerous opponent. I'm just pleased with how I stuck to it."

Watson will now face American world No 87 Christina McHale for a place in the semi-finals.

"Christina is a good friend of mine," she added.

"We're the same age, we came through juniors together, and we've been on the same journey since we were very young. It's going to be a tough match."