Top seed Simona Halep is through to the next round at the Prague Open but can count herself very lucky after a three-set win over Polona Hercog.
Claiming a 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 win, Halep was made to fight claiming it on her seventh match point; after just over 2 and a half hours on court in Prague.
She didn't show any rust to begin the tie going a set and a break up; but like her other ties against Hercog, it was going to go the distance.
Both players were even statistics wise with 29 winners each; but the errors were the difference with 39 for the World No.2 compared to 42 from Hercog as she battled through despite squandering the lead multiple times.
This was self evident in the final set as a 3-1 lead turned into 3-3; even when Hercog squandered a game point to level at 4-4 and was ultimately broken, Halep could not claim the win on her serve and she started to miss match points.
Hercog went 2-1 up in the tiebreak but like most of the match, the script was flipped as Halep took the lead and on her seventh match point, she hit a backhand down the line to win.
https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1293191328868651011?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1293191328868651011%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wtatennis.com%2Fnews%2F1751571%2Fhalep-survives-seesaw-battle-against-hercog-in-prague