DESPITE being ranked 51 spots lower in the world and only reaching the main draw of the Wuhan Open due to a lucky loser spot, Erika Andreeva crushed younger sister Mirra in the pair’s first ever professional match against one another. Three years her senior, Erika had won 33 of 57 matches coming into Wuhan, while Mirra had been more efficient with a 29-13 record, including a title in Iasi.

However coming into the match, Mirra had remarked how nervous she would be coming up against her sister, describing it as a “nightmare” given how intimately each player knew the other’s game. It was foreboding for the 17-year-old who was well aware that Erika could identity and exploit her weaknesses better than anyone.

Despite that fact, it was the 16th seeded Mirra who raced out of the blocks to gain an early break and go 3-1 up in the first set. That was where the dream turned into a nightmare though, as Erika not only mounted her comeback, but stormed to victory thanks to 11 of the next 12 games to close out the contest in 90 minutes, 6-3 6-1.

“It was tough for both of us,” Erika said post-match. “First experience, and both of us were happy it happened at a big tournament. But I’m not sure we enjoyed it.”

Both players were second guessing and bluffing the other, with their predictabilities really put to the test against an opponent who could read them like a book. In the end though, it was Erika who played the more economical game as Mirra overhit and produced a number of unforced errors which proved costly.

Erika won 63 and 55 per cent of her first and second serve points compared to Mirra’s 45 and 45 per cent respectively. She broke five times after being broken in the early stages of the match, and was able to win 69 total points to 52 in the end.

“It’s true, because we played each other in childhood a lot,” Erika said. “I know where she will most possibly go, and she as well. Sometimes during the rally I was like, ‘Normally I go there, but I know that she knows that I go there,’ and I changed my decision. I’m not sure that was the best choice sometimes.”

The victory marked Erika’s second Top 20 win in her WTA Tour career after an upset over Danielle Collins just over a month ago. She will take on third seed Jasmine Paolini in the Round of 16 after the Italian moved past China’s Yue Yuan.

In other results, Aryna Sabalenka scored a win over Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-4, while top local hope Qinwen Zheng notched up her 40th win of the season, the first Chinese player to do so since Li Na, with a 6-2 6-4 success over Romanian wildcard Jaqueline Cristian. Fellow local Xinyu Wang joined her in the Round of 16.

Among the other winners were Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, Russia’s Daria Kasatkina and Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia, while red-hot Coco Gauff destroyed Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova, 6-1 6-2. There were a few upsets as well as Polish player Magdalena Frech took out American seed Emma Navarro ini three sets, while American qualifier Hayley Baptiste stunned Czech Barbora Krejcikova, 6-3 7-5.