No.12 seed Belinda Bencic has fought back from a set down to advance to the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 4-6 6-2 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko.
Appearing in her third Open, the Swiss teen struggled early to find her rhythm on Rod Laver Arena on Friday.
But she regrouped to become the first player through to the fourth round in the women’s draw, a career-best for her at Melbourne Park.
“Definitely today it was a hard piece of work for me,” Bencic said.
“What I did in the first set wasn’t enough, so I knew I had to play much better in the second and third sets.
“I still tried to believe even though it wasn’t perfect in the first set.”
It was the first women’s match to go to three sets on Rod Laver Arena at this Open, with Bencic converting her third match point in just under two hours.
Bondarenko, a former world No.29, was contesting her first Australian Open since 2012 after taking time off to have a baby.
Bencic will meet either fifth seed Maria Sharapova or American Lauren Davis in the fourth round.