Melbourne, Jan 19 (IANS): Ukraine's Elina Svitolina defeated former quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai of China to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open on Saturday.

The No.6 seed rallied from two breaks down in the final set to beat her Chinese opponent 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 inside Rod Laver Arena in a match that lasted nearly three hours, reports Efe.

The Ukrainian trailed 3-0 in the final set which lasted over an hour on its own, against an in-form Zhang, but managed to run off with five straight games to serve for the match.

Zhang won the next two games to draw level but that was not enough to bring down her 24-year-old opponent.

"It was great fight today, I think for both of us. I think we left everything on court. Last night when I checked the weather, it was 20 degrees (Celsius), max, so I didn't really expect it was going to be that hot," Svitolina said after the match.

"I think a tennis match is a tennis match. You finish the match, and of course everyone wants to win as bad as the other person, but it's done. She's a very nice person. We practice sometimes," she added.

The two also shared a warm hug following their epic third round encounter at the Australian Open.

Svitolina will now play against either 12th seed Elise Mertens or 17th seed Madison Keys for a spot in the quarter-finals.