Australian Open junior champion Wakana Sonobe delivered an impressive upset on her WTA main-draw debut, coming from 3-0 down in the second set to defeat No.55-ranked Yuan Yue 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open.

Abu Dhabi: Draws | Scores | Order of play | 411

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Sonobe, 17, had been awarded a qualifying wild card for the second year running, and posted eye-catching straight-sets wins over Hailey Baptiste -- her first career Top 100 victory -- and Cristina Bucsa to make the main draw. She is the third 2008-born player to notch a tour-level win following Prague semifinalist Laura Samson and junior No. 1 Emerson Jones, who made the second round of Adelaide last month.

"I'm super happy, I still can't believe it," Sonobe said in her on-court interview.

The Japanese teenager, ranked No. 837, displayed a heavyweight power game to outhit Yuan over 1 hour and 35 minutes. She tallied 36 winners in total, racking up a series of one-two punches throughout the match and outweighing her 32 unforced errors. Yuan, by contrast, could only muster 13 winners despite her own preference for front-foot tennis.

Sonobe also demonstrated solid composure to hold off Yuan's attempted comeback. Though she only faced two break points in the whole match, Yuan found an excellent pass to convert the second of those early in the second set. Sonobe was only able to take four of the 15 break-point chances she had but didn't let the missed opportunities frustrate her. Pounding winners off both wings, she reeled off the last six games of the match to set up a second-round meeting with either No. 7 seed Jelena Ostapenko or Ons Jabeur.