Despite losing her opening contest against Canada's Zhang Mo, the number 11 seed, the veteran Australian then overcame Hungary's Georgina Pota, the number 15 seed, 11-7, 11-6, 11-2, 10-12, 11-5 - despite having missed a match point in the fourth game.

Crucially, in the preceding contest, Pota had beaten Zhang in five games which meant that games ratio decided the outcome at the Sichuan Province Gymnasium.

That meant first place for Jian, with a ratio of 7:5, as she qualified for the second stage of a Women's World Cup for the first time in seven attempts.

The Chinese-born Lay, who moved to Melbourne in the early 1990s and represented her new country at the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics, also becomes only the second player from Oceania to reach this stage.

On a day that was all about earning the top two places in the group to join the eight top seeds awaiting in the main draw, there was also success for Austria's Liu Jia, the number 16 seed and the only player in the tournament who, present for the 13th time, has made more appearances in the Women's World Cup than Jian.

She accounted for Wu Yue of the United States, the number 19 seed, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-3, to reserve second place in her group behind Romania's Bernadette Szocs.

Other names who made it through to tomorrow's main draw were Li Jie of The Netherlands, Szocs's compatriot Elizabeta Samara and North Korean player Kim Song I.