BEIJING, China - Facing deficits in both sets, No. 3 seed Elina Svitolina needed to rally for a 7-6(5), 7-6(1) win over home favorite Wang Yafan in the second round of the China Open.
After coming from a set down to beat last year's finalist Anastasija Sevastova in the opening round, the Ukrainian faced multiple deficits against the Chinese No. 4, but managed to rally to win in two tight sets.
Wang scored her first-ever Top 10 victory over Svitolina at the Miami Open in March, and the Acapulco champion seemed on course for her second as she matched wits with the World No. 3 on home soil.
"At first, I started the match, I played a good first game. Yeah, 2-0 up. After, I didn't feel good serve. I have a lot of double faults. [It was] very tough, very tough," Wang said in defeat.
"The last time we met, when I was ahead, I kept putting pressure on her. Today, overall...Somehow on the key points, I wasn't able to deal with them as well as she did."
Svitolina trailed an early break in the first set at 2-0, and later broke to love to force the opening set tiebreak as Wang served for the set at 6-5.
In the second set, she battled back from a 4-1 deficit, and served to stay in the set twice, before opening up a 5-0 lead to cruise in the second tiebreak.
Svitolina will next face the winner of the match between No. 15 seed Sofia Kenin and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who will face off for the second time in as many weeks on Tuesday after Kenin's victory at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open.
Pavlyuchenkova needed three sets to oust compatriot Veronika Kudermetova in a marathon match on Monday, as she came from 3-0 down in the decider and 4-2 down in the ensuing tiebreak to win, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(4).
