World No.1 Karolina Pliskova survived a scare to advance to the third round of the US Open with a 2-6 6-3 6-4 comeback win against local favourite Nicole Gibbs.

The Czech, who reached the final at Flushing Meadows last year, was on the back foot against Gibbs before finding her range on serve.

Roared on by the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, Gibbs was nothing like the player who lost 6-0 6-0 in their previous encounter in Sydney in 2015.

She bulldozed her way through the opening set as Pliskova struggled with her first serve.

The Czech faced a break point at 2-1 in the second set but Gibbs netted a backhand for what proved to be the turning point of the match.

“In the second set I started to serve better and get easy points with my first serve, which was much needed,” Pliskova said.

“I’m happy I managed to get through.”

She next faces Chinese 27th seed Zhang Shuai or Japan’s Risa Ozaki.

Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina powered into the third round with a 6-4 6-4 win against Russian Evgeniya Rodina.

The 22-year-old, who had also reached the third round at Flushing Meadows in the previous two years, was barely troubled by her 89th-ranked opponent in a sun-kissed Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Svitolina lost focus in the second set at 5-2 when she allowed Rodina to pull a break back, but she held her following service game to wrap up the victory on the first match point with a backhand winner.

She next faces either American Shelby Rogers or Australian 25th seed Daria Gavrilova.

Frenh Open champion and 12th seed Jelena Ostapenko beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-4 6-4 while there were also straight-sets wins for Kaia Kanepi and Jennifer Brady.

Japan’s Naomi Osaka prevailed in a tight clash against Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic 6-3 4-6 7-5.