Romania’s Simona Halep has survived an upset scare against Elena Rybakina in the US Open on Friday to reach the US Open fourth round.
The former No. 1 rallied for a late win to remain in the tournament.
The current No. 12 needed three sets lasting two hours and 24 minutes to defeat the 19th ranked Ms Rybakina of Kazakhstan to move into the next round.
The 22-year-old Kazakh put pressure on Ms Halep immediately, forcing the first set to go to a tie-breaker. The first set alone lasted an hour. Simona Halep, 29, won the tie-break set, giving her a lead going into the second set.
But Ms Rybakina continued to fight hard in the second set and took it 6-4.
That led to a critical third set. The Romanian found herself struggling at times during the final set. She eventually recovered to win the set 6-3.
“Definitely it was a very tough match, I knew before it was going to be very difficult because I played against her before. Elena is powerful and putting pressure on the opponent. I had to be strong, calm and fight at the end because I still have a chance to win,” she said.
She reached the quarter-final in 2016.
The 12th seed will take on the winner of Elina Svitolina and Daria Kasatkina.
Romania’s Simona Halep defeats Camila Giorgi to reach second round of US Open
