TOKYO: Former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki battled from behind to beat Jarmila Gajdosova 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 at the WTA Pan Pacific Open Thursday in her first match since losing in the US Open final.

The 24-year-old Dane, seeded second, needed two hours and 11 minutes to oust the Australian qualifier and book a quarterfinal spot against Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro.

“She was playing very well. I was trying to fight for every point and it took me a little while just get into it,” said Wozniacki.

“She was hitting a very heavy ball. I was playing a little bit too short and that gave Jarmila opportunities to play very aggressive.” Wozniacki lost the US Open final 6-3, 6-3 to top-ranked American Serena Williams at Flushing Meadows two weeks ago.

Gajdosovo, ranked 91st in the world, who has never won in her previous six matches with Wozniacki, broke her serve in their opening game. But the Dane immediately broke her back.

The 27-year-old Australian surged to 5-4 by breaking the Dane after five deuces and keeping her next serve to take the first set.

The two players broke each other early in the second set and went tit-for-tat until Gajdosova lost her serve with erratic shots in the 12th game.

After losing her serve at the start of the decisive set, Wozniacki broke the Australian three times and yield no point in the ninth game, banging in a two-handed backhand across the court on match point.

In earlier second-round matches on the day, Spaniard Garbine Muguruza upset fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 in almost two hours.

Another Australian Casey Dellacqua trounced New Zealand’s Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-4.

Eighth-seeded Suarez Navarro beat Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.

Dellacqua and Muguruza will clash in the quarterfinals on Wozniacki’s side of the draw with Germany’s world No. 8 Angelique Kerber heading the other half as the top seed.

Kirilenko rallies

In Seoul, Maria Kirilenko took another step in her comeback from injury by beating third-seeded Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-0 Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Korea Open.

Kirilenko fell out of the top 100 this year after a knee injury kept her out the first three months of the season. She will next face sixth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia, who rallied to beat Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

It’s the first time Kirilenko has won back-to-back matches on the WTA tour since Beijing last September, and her first quarterfinal since Eastbourne last June.

To be honest, because I had an injury for a while, my ranking went down,” Kirilenko said. “However it’s not a problem for me. I already know if I start playing well again, my ranking will be going up again.” Other winners included fourth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia and Nicole Gibbs of the United States.

Rybarikova beat Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium 6-2, 6-2. Gibbs rallied to beat Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5).

Wang in last four

In Guangzhou, Chinese wild-card entry Yafan Wang advanced to the semifinals of the Guangzhou Open by beating Kai-Lin Zhang 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 Thursday.

Wang had eliminated top-seeded Samantha Stosur in the first round and will next face Monica Niculescu in the semifinals.

Niculescu has yet to drop a set in the tournament, and beat Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

Second-seeded Alize Cornet of France also moved into the semifinals by defeating Taiwanese wild-card entry Hsieh Su-Wei 7-6 (5), 6-1. She will next face Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, who beat Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor of Spain 6-2, 6-3.