Ann Li needs 10 match points but knocks top seed Aryna Sabalenka out of the Wuhan Open

It took 10 match points. Ann Li never stopped swinging.

The 26-year-old American rallied from a set and a break down to beat top seed Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in the second round of the Wuhan Open on Wednesday. The match lasted 2 hours and 27 minutes.

A wild finish

Sabalenka won eight straight points to close out the first set and led 4-2 in the second. Li answered by winning nine of the next 11 games and built a 5-2 lead in the third.

Then the four-time major champion dug in. Sabalenka saved five match points to hold for 5-3 and two more at 5-4 before leveling at 5-5. She saved two more in the tiebreak. Li finally ended it with a forehand winner on her 10th try. Sabalenka had a visit from the physio midway through the final set to retape her right leg.

"I think on some of those match points I was about to lose my mind. I was about to crash out," Li said. "I didn't play bad. She just played really well. So you have to play point by point."

A career best

It is the biggest win of Li's career by ranking and her first over Sabalenka in four meetings. It is also her third career Top 10 win and her second this season. Li, ranked 31st, is into the third round of a WTA 1000 event for the fourth straight time.

For Sabalenka it is a second straight early loss after she fell to Nikola Bartunkova in Beijing last week. The three-time Wuhan champion had never before failed to reach the semifinals there.

Pegula is out too

The top two seeds are both gone. Second seed Jessica Pegula lost earlier Wednesday to Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko 2-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3. Former No. 1 Iga Swiatek moved on with a 6-2, 6-1 win over fellow Pole Magdalena Frech for her 40th win of the season.

Li faces Janice Tjen in the round of 16 in their first career meeting. Both players are chasing a first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.