Ann Li had to work for it, but she rallied from a set down and converted her 10th match point to upset No. 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in 2 hours and 27 minutes on Wednesday for the biggest win of her career.

It marked Li's third career Top 10 win and second this season. It was also her career-best win by ranking and her first over Sabalenka in four WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz meetings. With the win, she advanced to the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth consecutive time -- a personal best -- and reached that stage in Wuhan for the first time.

"It was a crazy match," Li said in her on-court interview. "I didn't start out as well as I would've liked, but I had a lot of match points there. I missed some opportunities, but she also played really well in those moments. For me, I just tried to play one point at a time and stay aggressive."

Li dropped the opening set after Sabalenka won eight straight points to close it out and soon found herself down a break at 4-2 in the second. But she responded by winning nine of the next 11 games, forcing a decider and building a commanding 5-2 lead in the third.

What followed was a determined effort from Sabalenka, who received a visit from the physio midway through the final set to reapply tape to her right leg. She saved five match points to hold for 5-3, then erased two more at 5-4 with a forehand winner and a backhand winner to level at 5-5. A love hold a couple games later sent the match into a deciding tiebreak.

There, Sabalenka fought off two more match points, including one with a remarkable forehand that just caught the corner. But Li finally sealed the victory with a forehand winner on her 10th match point.

After a season-long race, the world's top players converge in the California desert with the WTA's biggest title still to be won.