Maria Sharapova gained revenge over the Latvian 16th seed Anastasija Sevastova with a gutsy 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 7-6 (9/7) victory in the China Open first round on Saturday.
It was the five-time Grand Slam winner’s first appearance since she was beaten by Sevastova at the US Open in early September and gets her stop-start return from a doping ban back on track.
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Sharapova, ranked 104 in the world, is a wildcard in Beijing as she works her way back slowly from a 15-month ban for taking the banned substance meldonium.
She was far from her best, but Sharapova dug in during an attritional match lasting more than three hours.
{{/usCountry}}She was far from her best, but Sharapova dug in during an attritional match lasting more than three hours.
{{/usCountry}}Sevastova broke the Russian former number one -- who had the majority of the crowd behind her -- in the seventh game of the first set to seize the early initiative.
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Sharapova immediately broke back for 4-4, before falling 6-5 down on her own serve when her drop shot went astray, only to strike back immediately to force a tie break.
“Come on!” the former China Open champion Sharapova shouted as she wrapped up the first-set tie break.
The 30-year-old looked set to race through the second set to book her place in round two.
But her serve was suspect all match and the Latvian refused to submit.
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Sevastova broke Sharapova once more as the match clock hit the two-hour mark to level the encounter at one-set each, before Sharapova finally saw off her resilient opponent in an epic decider.
Earlier, the second seed Simona Halep battled past the American Alison Riske in three sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.