The heat and a plucky opponent initially left 17th seed Julia Goerges frazzled as she fell a set and 3-1 behind.
But the in-form German, who won the Stuttgart tournament and reached the last four in Madrid during the past few weeks, relied on her survival instincts to floor Czech Lucie Safarova 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Goerges, however, did not let the win go to her head. Asked who she would pick as the tournament favourite, she quipped: "For sure not me."
The 22-year-old, dubbed "Gorgeous Goerges" by some members of the press, has also been hailed by success-starved German tennis fans as the new Steffi Graf after a dearth of talent since Graf won the last of her 22 grand slam titles here in 1999.
In typical style, Goerges is not interested in the comparisons.
When a reporter asked who was her idol assuming she would say Graf, she replied with a dead straight face: "Martina Hingis."
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