But two seeded players fell on Day 2: No. 10 Daria Kasatkina lost to Sorana Cirstea and No. 13 Beatriz Haddad Maia was eliminated by Anastasia Potapova.

The No. 8 seed navigated the time warp and won the final four games of the match to outlast her fellow American and reach the second round in Melbourne.

The No. 8 seed is a proven big-match performer, has a 4-0 head-to-head advantage over her first-round opponent—and, for our purposes, the price is right.