Charleston, SC, USA, 1 April 2014 | tennis.com.au

Jarmila Gajdosova has battled for more than two hours before going down to the in-form Elina Svitolina at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston.

Svitolina, as of this week the world’s highest-ranked teenager at No.35, held off the fast finishing Australian 6-1 5-7 7-6(5) to advance to the second round.

Last week, Svitolina advanced to the fourth round at the Sony Open in Miami, beating top 20 star Eugenie Bouchard along the way.

Meanwhile Gajdosova, currently ranked outside the world’s top 300 as she continues her return to tennis following an illness-marred 2013 season, won two matches in qualifying this week in Charleston to take her place in the main draw.

And after a slow start against the Ukrainian, it appeared she might continue that winning streak as she consistently reeled in her opponent’s leads throughout the match.

Down 6-1 3-0, Gajdosova stormed back into the match as the 19-year-old tightened.

Svitolina twice served for the match deep in the third set only for Gajdosova to force a tiebreak, and held leads of 5-1 and 6-3 in the breaker before finally clinching victory on her third match point.

Svitolina next faces fifth seed Sloane Stephens.