Sydney - Sloane Stephens shook off three dropped service games in the opening set in a dramatic turn around to beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 0-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3) in her first round match at the Sydney International.
Alexandrova had a chance to serve for the match at 5-3 in the second but fourth-seeded Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, rallied to survive the round. Stephens will next play Yulia Putintseva.
Ash Barty ousted 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-3 to advance to a second-round meeting with No 1-ranked Simona Halep.
In other women's matches, 2015 Sydney champion Petra Kvitova had a 6-1, 7-5 win over Aryna Sabalenka, Hsieh Su-Wei beat Danielle Collins 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 and Priscilla Hon defeated Tatjana Maria 6-3, 7-6 (7/4).
In the men's draw, eighth-seeded Andreas Seppi advanced 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 over Jeremy Chardy, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Denis Kudla 7-5, 6-4, and Andrey Rublev ousted No 6-seeded Lucas Pouille 6-2, 6-3.
Results of matches played at the ATP/WTA Sydney International tennis tournament at Olympic Park on Tuesday (x denotes seed)
Round 1
Men
Andreas Seppi (ITA x8) bt Jeremy Chardy (FRA) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) bt Denis Kudla (USA) 7-5, 6-4
Andrey Rublev (RUS) bt Lucas Pouille (FRA x6) 6-2, 6-3
John Millman (AUS) bt Frances Tiafoe (USA) 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5
1st round
Women
Petra Kvitova (CZE x5) bt Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 6-1, 7-5
Ashleigh Barty (AUS) bt Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 6-3, 6-3
Sloane Stephens (USA x4) bt Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) 0-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/3)
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR) bt Darya Kasatkina (RUS x8) 6-1, 6-4
Priscilla Hon (AUS) bt Tatjana Maria (GER) 6-3, 7-6 (7/4)
Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) bt Danielle Collins (USA) 7-6 (7/4), 6-3