St Petersburg - Julia Goerges rallied to win the final four games of the match and beat Maria Sakkari 6-2, 7-5 Tuesday in the first round of the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy.
The fifth-seeded German trailed 5-3 in the second set before going on her run.
Goerges will play Russian veteran Vera Zvonareva in the second round.
Also, lucky loser Veronika Kudermetova defeated Olga Danilovic 6-2, 6-1 to set up a second-round match against either eighth-seeded Donna Vekic or Timea Bacsinszky.