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Kvitova bounces Gavrilova to reach Wuhan Open third round

Xinhua, September 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Defending champion Petra Kvitova recovered from 5-3 down in the final set against Daria Gavrilova to win her opening match and advance into Wuhan Open third round.

The No. 3 seed Czech, who was offered first round bye, was given all she could handle by Gavrilova, but the defending champion surived in over two and a half hours to win her opener 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

At just 21 years of age, Gavrilova is in the midst of a breakthrough year, one that has seen her take down the likes of Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic and push others like Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber to their limits.

The Russian-born Aussie looked in that giant-killing form from the start against Kvitova, bounding off to a 2-0 lead before the Czech star was able to turn things around and reclaim the initiative - hitting 39 winners to Gavrilova's 23 by match's end.

Kvitova captured the inaugural title in Wuhan one year ago, but never looked settled - even with the opening set in hand - falling behind 3-0 in the second before ultimately dropping the set 6-4.

Gavrilova looked to have all the momentum in the third, recovering from an early break to find herself serving for the match at 5-3, but a tight game saw her lose that lead and Kvitova came roaring back.

Playing the first night match of the day, Kvitova and Gavrilova treated the crowd to a tense ending, as the WTA rising star tried to push her more experienced opponent into a final set tie-break before the two-time Wimbledon champion closed out the match on the second time of asking.

The defending champion was visibly relieved in her on-court interview.

"I'm really happy that I'm here again after a long year and still competing. The crowd is still amazing so I'm really blessed to be here."

Kvitova will next face US Open finalist and one of just three women (including the Czech herself) to beat world No. 1 Serena Williams in 2015 -- Roberta Vinci.

The Italian had a much quicker day on the singles court, ousting the Korea Open champion Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4, 6-3, but ended up finishing her day even later, dropping her doubles match with Daniela Hantuchova to Julia Goerges and Karolina Pliskova 7-6(3), 5-7, 10-7. Endit