Wildcard Australian Jarmila Gajdosova has survived a banana-peel moment to book a second-round showdown with Serbian No.2 seed Ana Ivanovic as more Brisbane International seeds fell on Monday.
Half of the eight women’s seeds are now out after Slovak Dominika Cibulkova (No.4) was upset by American teenager Madison Keys 7-5 6-2 in the first round and No.8 Garbine Muguruza of Spain withdrew with an ankle injury on Monday.
However, Gajdosova took another positive step on the comeback trail by downing China’s Shuai Zhang 6-4 6-1.
Former world No.25 Gajdosova is on the rise once more after seeing her ranking plummet to No.334 after a nasty bout of glandular fever last year.
And she took another tumble on Monday, thanks to torrential rain, which blew into her largely covered show court.
“We had a few rain delays and I had a little bit of a tumble, but it wouldn’t be a tennis match for me if I didn’t,” she laughed.
“The court was wet and I was going for a shot and pretty much slid all the way through the baseline. So there was a few scrapes, but nothing too serious.”
Gajdosova dusted herself off to emerge triumphant on Monday and it seems she is making a habit of it.
The resurgent Gajdosova now sits at No.70 after extending a remarkable 29-9 run in 2014, including wins at ITF events in Nottingham and Vancouver.
She was nominated for the 2014 WTA comeback player of the year.
But she has her eyes on a bigger prize after ousting 61st-ranked Zhang in straight sets – former world No.1 Ivanovic.
“She’s a top-10 player. It gives me an opportunity to see where my game is, what I need to improve,” she said of the world No.7.
Meanwhile Gajdosova’s fellow Australian, world No.231 qualifier Daria Gavrilova shocked American Alison Riske – a player ranked 88 places higher – in the first round.
Gavrilova will next meet Angelique Kerber after the German third seed downed Caroline Garcia of France 6-4 6-3.
Another qualifier, Yaroslava Shvedova, staged a remarkable turnaround after failing to win a game in the opening set of her match with former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki; booking a second-round clash with top seed Maria Sharapova 0-6 7-5 6-4.