Chinese veteran Zhang Shuai shuts down rally by Cirstea at Wuhan Open

Home wildcard Zhang Shuai beat Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the women's singles second round at the Wuhan Open in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, on Wednesday, punching her ticket to the round of 16.

Zhang converted a break in the third game to build an early advantage, before taking the first set in 42 minutes. But the crowd favorite's unforced errors mounted in the second set, costing her a break chance in the seventh game. Cirstea then claimed three straight games to clinch the set, sending the match into a decider.

The 36-year-old Chinese veteran regained her rhythm in the third set, jumping out to a 5-0 lead. Although Cirstea fought off two match points in the sixth, en route to pulling four games back, the Romanian couldn't stop Zhang from wrapping up the win in the end.

Zhang will face the USA's World No. 3 Coco Gauff next.

Defending champion and World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus fought from behind to defeat Rebecca Sramkova of Slovakia 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and reach the last 16.

In her first Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour match since winning the US Open last month, Sabalenka showed a few signs of rust, giving up two early breaks to the World No. 126 on her way to conceding the first set.

The four-time Grand Slam winner bounced back in the second, breaking her Slovakian opponent in the fourth game. The Belarusian saved five break points in the seventh, before claiming the set to force a decider.

Sabalenka maintained her momentum in the third set, breaking Sramkova in the first and fifth games. She gave her opposite number no chance to spring a surprise, ruthlessly closing out the contest to advance to the last 16 against Russia's Liudmila Samsonova.