Ashleigh Barty has set up a fourth meeting of the year with Petra Kvitova after dousing local hopes in a gritty three-set win over Saisai Zheng at the China Open.
A strong serving display got Barty out of jail, the world No.1 unbroken in the two hour 32 minute arm wrestle.
She eventually triumphed 6-3 6-7 (7-5) 6-2.
The Australian sprayed 42 errors from her racquet and allowed Zheng to pinch the second set after looking on track for a straight-sets win.
A sloppy start to the tiebreak brought Zheng back into the match, Barty going down 6-1 before reeling off four points to drag herself back into the contest.
But the Chinese wasn't to be denied and served out the set.
The decider was largely one-way traffic however, Barty securing two breaks and the match.
Kvitova made much lighter work of Belinda Bencic, registering a 6-3 6-3 win.
The Czech and Barty have faced off three times already this year, Kvitova winning in Sydney and at the Australian Open before Barty extracted a measure of revenge in Miami.
In other matches freshly minted US Open champion Bianca Andreescu downed Elise Mertens 6-3 7-6 (7-5) and Jennifer Brady edged Madison Keys 2-6 6-4 6-4.
AAP
