Third seed Daria Gavrilova has fought back to defeat American Madison Brengle 4-6 6-3 6-3 in the opening round of the Mexico Open.

The Australian struggled on her serve, double-faulting four times in the first set and 11 times throughout Monday’s match.

But Gavrilova found her rhythm in the second set, winning 6-3 after claiming an early break.

The 23-year-old struggled with her serve again in the third but 76th seed Brengle was unable to take break points and Gavrilova went on to claim the final set 6-3.

The Australian will meet either Kristyna Pliskova or wildcard Renata Zarazua in the second round.

Elsewhere in Acapulco, fifth seed Irina-Camelia Begu came back from a set down against Christina McHale, winning 3-6 6-2 6-4, to set up a second-round match against Veronica Cepede Royg, who beat Belinda Bencic 4-6 7-6 (7/1) 6-3.

Defending champion Lesia Tsurenko eased to a 6-4 6-1 victory against Lauren Davis, while Kateryna Kozlova retired while behind 6-2 1-0 against Arina Rodionova.

Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska also retired at 2-6 6-4 5-0 against Monica Puig.