Beijing, Oct 3 (AP) Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka and U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff navigated tricky second-round opponents to advance at the China Open on Tuesday.

Sabalenka, making her debut at No. 1 in Beijing, came from a break down in each set to see off qualifier Katie Boulter 7-5, 7-6 (2).

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“In the key moments I played a little bit better than her," said Sabalenka, who will play 36th-ranked Jasmine Paolini in the last 16. "I think it was all about the last games in each set. I mean, she had the opportunity. I'm super happy that I didn't give her easily those sets.”

The third-ranked Gauff had to rally from a break down in the deciding set to defeat Petra Martic 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (2). The 48th-ranked Martic served for the match after breaking Gauff for a 5-4 lead, but the American broke back and then dominated the tiebreaker.

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Fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula came from a set down to beat 39th-ranked Anna Blinkova 6-7 (2), 6-2, 6-1 in just over two hours. The American, who was a finalist at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Saturday, will play 13th-seeded Julia Ostapenko next.

In other second-round matches, Marta Kostyuk ousted seventh-seeded Ons Jabeur 7-6 (5), 6-1, ninth-seeded Caroline Garcia beat Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and China's Wang Xinyu beat 11th-seeded Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 6-2.

The men's semifinals take place later Tuesday with second-ranked Carlos Alcaraz facing sixth-seeded Jannik Sinner.

Third-ranked Daniil Medvedev meets eighth-seeded Alexander Zverev in the other semifinal. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)