SHANGHAI, Sept 12: Russia’s Anna Kournikova battled back from 5-2 down in the second set to beat China’s Zheng Jie 6-4 7-6 in the second round of the Shanghai Open on Thursday.

The fourth seed seemed to lose her composure at the start of the second set but recovered to book her place in the quarter-finals after clinching the tiebreaker 7-2.

“It’s kind of tough to play against somebody from whom you really don’t know what to expect,” Kournikova said after beating the home crowd favourite.

“I lost my concentration a little bit. She probably thought that it was all over, relaxed a little and started to play loose,” she said. “At 5-2 down, I had to raise my level of play.

“This wasn’t my best match, but the good thing is that, even not playing perfectly, I still pulled it through,” the Russian added.

“I stayed tough — I stayed strong mentally.”

Zheng, cheered on by the partisan crowd, lost momentum after the eighth game.

“She served rather well, and she was so fast,” the Chinese player said.

Kournikova will face Jelena Kostanic in Friday’s quarter-finals, the Croat having beaten compatriot Silvija Talaja 2-6 6-0 6-4.

In other second-round matches, top seed Anna Smashnova of Israel crushed South Korea’s Cho Yoon-jeong 6-0 6-3, while Japan’s Miho Saeki beat Hungary’s Petra Mandula 6-7 6-4 6-3.

Results: (prefix number denotes seeding):