BULGARIAN 29-year-old Viktoriya Tomova has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat after surving four match points against during a frantic second set tiebreaker to defeat young American Ashlyn Krueger in Wuhan overnight.

The WTA Tour 1000 event’s second day saw the world number 48 come back from 3-6 down in the second set tiebreaker – then facing a fourth match point after drawing level – before closing out that set 10-8 in the tiebreak. She would go on to win the final set 7-5 after losing done and dusted following a 6-1 first set loss.

Tomova became the 61st person in 2024 to come back from at least one match point down to win, defeating her talented 20-year-old opponent to book her place in the second round. Yet to win a WTA Tour, Tomova needed two hours and 34 minutes to seal the deal and move through to the Round of 32.

Tomova won 60 and 40 per cent of her first and second serve points, and while she served six double faults for two aces, was largely helped by Kreuger’s misfiring serve. The American did put down seven aces, but also 16 double faults in an error-riddled, costly match.

A total of 27 break point opportunities were shared between the players, with Tomova breaking six times to Krueger’s seven, while they won near identical points for the match (121-120 in Tomova’s favour). The Bulgarian will now go on to face the red-hot Coco Gauff, with the fourth seed well rested since lifting the Beijing title last week.

There was no shortage of first round matches completed overnight with young gun Russian Mirra Andreeva defeating local hope Xiyu Wang 7-6 6-3 to set up a Round of 32 clash with older sister Erika. Italian lucky loser Lucia Bronzetti stepped in for withdrawal Paula Badosa to defeat Australian Ajla Tomljanovic who was coming off a 125 title in Hong Kong.

A trio other Russians in Ekaterina Alexandrova, Veronika Kudermetova and Kamilla Rakhimova all won their respective contests, while Pole Magda Linette took down Liudmila Samsonova. Among the other winners were Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, Romanian wildcard Jaqueline Cristian and American Amanda Anisimova.