Victoria Mboko progressed to the quarter-finals in Hong Kong with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 win over Alexandra Eala.
The third seed lost the opening set before producing a dominant and authoritative second set to level the match at one set all.
In the deciding set, Mboko looked all but down and out as she suffered a double break deficit at 4-1.
Fighting for her right to stay in the contest, Mboko rallied to five consecutive games to seal her place in the last eight.
Off the court Mboko and Eala are good friends and the Canadian admitted it was a very tough contest as she reflected on their friendship, “It feels unbelievable to come back in a match like that,” the Canadian told the WTA website.
“Alex was playing such incredible tennis, and of course the ambience in the crowd was very electric. It was very intense so I think it really pushed me more and more to fight as much as possible.
“She’s such a sweet girl and we have so many great memories together off the court. We’ll go and get bubble tea together, we do the most wholesome things together.”
On the court it was Mboko’s day as she reached the last eight where she will now face sixth seed Anna Kalinskaya who only dropped two games against Shuai Zhang.
The other quarter-finals will see Belind Bencic take on Cristina Bucsa while Maya Joint will face Himeno Sakatsume in the top half of the draw.
In the bottom half of the draw second seed Leylah Fernandez has a tough quarter-final contest against Sorana Cirstea.
