Mar 24, 2019; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Simona Halep of Romania reacts after winning a point against Polona Hercog of Slovenia (not pictured) in the third round of the Miami Open at Miami Open Tennis Complex. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
March 24, 2019
(Reuters) – Romanian second seed Simona Halep fought back from a set down to defeat Slovenian Polona Hercog in a challenging third round match at the Miami Open on Sunday.
Hercog, ranked 93rd in the world, pushed Halep all the way in the second set but the Romanian dominated the tiebreak to turn the match around and eventually triumphed 5-7 7-6(1) 6-2.
She will face three-time Miami Open champion Venus Williams in the fourth round after the American beat Russian 14th seed Daria Kasatkina 6-3 6-1.
World number three Halep avoided becoming the third major player to exit the tournament in two days.
Japanese world number one Naomi Osaka was stunned by 27th seeded Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei while Serena William was forced to withdraw with a knee injury earlier on Sunday.
Two other seeds went out on Sunday.
Latvian 11th seed Anastasija Sevastova lost 1-6 6-2 6-3 to Kazakh Yulia Putintseva and 25th-seeded American Danielle Collins went down 7-5 6-1 to China’s Wang Yafan.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; editing by Ken Ferris)
