Australia's Ash Barty has survived a massive scare to beat qualifier Kristina Kucova in her opening match at the Miami Open.
Kucova served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, and Barty was forced to save a match point before breaking back.
The world No.1 was far from her best, but able to close out the match against her 30-year-old opponent, who is ranked 149 in the world.
Barty won the last five games to take the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, although even that wasn't simple, with the Australian coming back from 0-40 when serving for the match at 6-5.
"Just never give up, never ever give up," Barty said after the match.
"You're always in with a chance, and today was really hard work and I enjoyed every single minute of it.
"There's nothing like coming through a test like that, and now I get another opportunity in a couple of days time to play another tough match and test myself again."
Barty dropped serve in the third game of the match, but was able to break straight back courtesy of a stunning half-volley, and from there on was relatively untroubled in taking the first set.
The pair traded service breaks again early in the second set, which was more competitive than the first, with Kucova breaking Barty again in the 10th game to claim the set.
The Australian was a little rusty early on, in her first tournament since losing to Danielle Collins in Adelaide last month.
It's the first time Barty has played a tournament outside of Australia since February last year. She made the semi-finals in Doha, before sitting out the rest of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She's the defending champion in Miami, having won the title in 2019, and could lose her No.1 ranking to Naomi Osaka in Miami.
Flight cancellations meant Barty's trip to Miami took 50 hours, hardly an ideal preparation for the Australian.
Earlier, Australians Thanasi Kokkinakis and Storm Sanders both recorded wins.
Kokkinakis defeated Shintaro Mochizuki, 6-3, 6-3, to setup a meeting with 29th seed Marton Fucsovics, while Sanders needed three sets to defeat Elisabetta Cocciaretto. She'll now play Jessica Pegula in the next round.
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