Mai Hontama turns 47-47 serve duel her way to edge Jodie Burrage 2-1 in Beijing

47-47. That is how the service points finished — dead level across three sets — and Mai Hontama still beat Jodie Burrage 2-1 in Beijing's second qualifying round. When the serve ledger reads even, the return ledger decides, and it read 43-27 to Hontama. Total points: 90-74.

Burrage owned the start. She won 24 service points in the opener to Hontama's 15 and added 17 return points of her own, outscoring her opponent 41-31 to take the first set 6-2. The warning light blinked anyway: five double faults in that set alone, the first instalment of a 9-2 count that would decide everything.

The second set inverted the match. Burrage's serve collapsed from 24 points won to 10, with three more double faults, and her return managed just five. Hontama took the set 29-15 on points, then repeated the script in the decider: 16-13 on serve, 14-5 on return, 30-18 overall. Four break points converted to Burrage's two; seven saved against ten. The sets flipped 1-2 and the match went with them.

Hontama's line is deliberately unglamorous: one ace, two double faults, 64% first serves in, 40 first-serve points won. What she bought with it was control of the second shot — 43 return points, nearly half her haul, and enough pressure to break twice as often as she was broken.

Burrage leaves with the numbers that make it hurt: three aces to one, 47 service points won to 47, ten break points saved. What she cannot recover is 27 return points and nine double faults.

Serve even, return lopsided. Hontama never out-punched Burrage; she simply won the points that started with a return, and in Beijing that was the only currency that paid.