Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic has survived a massive scare at the US Open, narrowly defeating 18-year-old Simona Halep 6-4 4-6 7-5 on Wednesday.
The world No.5 needed two hours and 20 minutes to overcome her unseeded opponent as she came within a whisker of losing after Halep served for the match at 5-4 in the third set.
Jankovic broke Halep's serve, held and broke again to take the set 7-5 and avoid a huge upset on day two.
Halep seemed rattled by her inability to close out the match, and the world No.96's fatigue began to show as she attempted to force the issue with drop shots and wild forehands that hastened her demise.
However, the plucky Romanian more than held her own against the Serb, matching Jankovic's powerful hitting and moving her up and down the baseline with her aggressive play.
Jankovic made an astonishing 48 unforced errors as she attempts to end her post-Wimbledon form slump at Flushing Meadows.
The 25-year-old has struggled since injuring her back in the third round at Wimbledon.
Since returning to the international circuit, the Serb has lost in the first round at San Diego and Montreal and been eliminated in the second round at Cincinnati and Portoroz.
Jankovic will meet Mirjana Lucic in the second round after the Croatian beat Australia's Alicia Molik 7-6 (7-5) 6-1.
No.11 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova is also through to the second round after defeating Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm 6-2 4-6 6-1.
The Russian hit 11 aces but was far from convincing as she struggled to contend with 39-year-old Krumm's intelligent play.
No.22 seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez bounced back after dropping the second set to American Jamie Hampton to storm home 6-4 4-6 6-0.