WUHAN, China, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- One of the most spectacular matches of this year' s WTA Dongfeng Motors Wuhan Open ended with Australian Ashleigh Barty edging Czech 3rd seed Karolina Pliscova in a match that needed two tiebreaks to decide, 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2).
Both Barty and her Czech opponent played fantastic tennis, with Pliscova shooting 11 aces to 8 for the Australian.
Barty came within striking distance of sealing the deal in the third set, with a game score of 40-0 at 5-4, but Pliscova clawed her way back up to deuce with some truly spectacular shooting and grabbed another set point to level at 5-all.
The Czech moved it to 6-all in short order and forced a nail-biting tiebreaker during which it looked like it could go either way, until some stunning shots by Barty sealed the deal after a two and one-half hour marathon.
Barty goes on to meet either world No. 1 Gabrine Muguruza or 8th seed Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals.