Canada's Fernandez defeats Rakhimova to advance to Round of 16 in Wuhan

Canada's Leylah Fernandez battled past Russia's Kamilla Rakhimova 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday to reach the Round of 16 at the Wuhan Open.

Fernandez, ranked 28th in the world, took two hours 55 minutes to seal her win against Rakhimova, the world No. 66, at the hard court event in China.

Fernandez, of Laval, Que., will face the winner of the match between China's Zheng Qinwen, gold medallist at the Paris Olympics, and Romania's Jaqueline Cristian, ranked 75th in the world, in the next round.

Fernandez started strong but lost momentum, becoming erratic during the second set and finishing with 12 double faults to Rakhimova's two. Fernandez converted five of 12 break points, while Rakhimova broke serve four times out of 10 chances. Both hit one ace.

Meanwhile, fellow Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski, of Ottawa, and her New Zealand partner Erin Routliffe will later take on China's Wang Yafan and Xu Yifan in the women's doubles Round of 16.

WATCH |  Fernandez outlasts Rakhimova to move on at the Wuhan Open:

Second-ranked Aryna Sabalenka maintained her undefeated record at the Wuhan Open, opening her campaign with a 6-4, 6-4 win over 37th-ranked Katerina Siniakova in a second-round match on Wednesday.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka, who received a bye in the first round with the other top eight seeds, broke her Czech opponent twice in each set — as well as surrendering one of her own service games — as she clinched her latest win in 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.

In the third round, the 26-year-old Belarussian will play Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, who ended Paris Olympics silver medallist Donna Vekic's tournament with 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.

The reigning U.S. Open champion is 13-0 in Wuhan after winning the title on