Women's No 2 Elena Rybakina scraped into the Madrid Open third round with a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over Gabriela Ruse.
Kazakhstan's Rybakina, who won the Australian Open in January and triumphed at Stuttgart last week, struggled in the first set, making 24 unforced errors to just eight winners.
After claiming a topsy-turvy second set, she came back from a break down in the third and sealed the victory on her third match point.
Rybakina will meet Zheng Qinwen, who produced a similarly battling performance to overcome Sofia Kenin, in the third round.
"Today, I basically survived," said Rybakina after her hard-fought victory.
"It wasn't the greatest performance but Gabriela, she played very well. She was playing very deep and aggressive, so it was very difficult.
Finding things to smile about in Madrid 😄
— wta (@WTA) April 24, 2026
Elena Rybakina | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/4OKT1Dh1jc
"My serve was not really helping me today... but I'm really happy that I managed to win, and I hope I can bring better tennis next round."
Last year's runner-up and the third seed Coco Gauff made light work of Leolia Jeanjean with a 6-3, 6-0 victory at the Arantxa Sanchez stadium.
Gauff will take on Romanian Sorana Cirstea in the third round, after she defeated Tyra Caterina Grant in straight sets.