Wimbledon champion Rybakina, fresh off her Indian Wells triumph last week, calmly saved a match point on serve in the second set and fired 60 winners, including a dozen aces, as she earned a gutsy 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 win.

Rybakina, who also had to go the distance in her opening match against Anna Kalinskaya, struggled to find her rhythm on serve in the opening set but wrestled back momentum in the second.

After being broken four times in the first set, Rybakina held her serve in all but one game in the remainder of the contest and confidently closed out victory in two hours and 31 minutes.

“It didn’t start well in the first set but in the end I just found some energy,” Rybakina said.

“I was trying to push more on the serve and started to move better on the court. It was a really tough battle.

“I was trying to focus on every point because the first set didn’t go my way. But it was just a few mistakes here and there. Overall, I played well. Paula was serving well. Just happy that I was able to manage in three sets.”