Twenty-third seed Zheng Qinwen of China rallied from a set down to beat Romania's 32-year-old veteran Irina-Camelia Begu 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 and advance to the third round of the 2023 Miami Open on Thursday. 

"At the beginning, I was not really into the match. But in the second set, I started to feel better and started to find a little more rhythm. I think I did pretty well in the second and third set. In the end, I'm really happy to win this match because it was really difficult for me after a break," said the 23-year-old Chinese, who was returning to the court after being out of action for more than a month due to injuries.

Zheng will face 12th seeded Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in the next round. She commented, "She is a very aggressive player, so am I. I've played with her several times, and we were close in scores. So we both have opportunities next match. Everything is possible. "

Meanwhile, third seed American Jessica Pegula beat qualifier Katherine Sebov 6-3 6-1 and will next face compatriot Danielle Collins, while sixth seed Coco Gauff eased past Rebecca Marino 6-4, 6-3 to set up a battle with Russia's Anastasia Potapova.

With the victory, the 19-year-old Gauff steered past Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to claim the record for most wins (34) at WTA 1000 events before turning 20.

In other second-round action, Belgian Elise Mertens beat Russian eighth seed Daria Kasatkina, while Latvian 24th seed Jelena Ostapenko and Spanish 21st seed Paula Badosa also advanced.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, fresh off her triumph at Indian Wells, closed out the evening session by defeating Russia's Anna Kalinskaya for a spot in the third round. 

If Rybakina lifts the title in Miami, she would become only the fifth woman to win the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments back-to-back, a feat known as the "Sunshine Double" given the tournaments' locations in California and Florida.

(With input from agencies)