Angelique Kerber advances in Madrid 2017. Sevastova out.

MADRID, Spain
Trailing 5-3 in the final set, top seed Angelique Kerber dug in to defeat Katerina Siniakova, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 in just over two hours to advance to the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open.

After the pair split sets, it was the 20-year-old Czech who earned the first break of the decider to move ahead 4-3 and served for the match at 5-4. Nonetheless, she never earned a match point as the World No.2 ran off the last four games to ensure the tournament wouldn't see both its top two seeds fall on Monday, after karolina pliskova' s exit at the hands of anastasija sevastova.

"I think she played one of the best matches in this year," Kerber assessed after the match. "I was trying at the end coming back. I know that I can come back and win matches like that when I'm down, so that was actually what was going on in my mind in the third set.