NEW YORK (REUTERS) - Romania’s twice Grand Slam winner Simona Halep outlasted Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 7-6(11) 4-6 6-3 in a dramatic third-round showdown at the US Open on Friday (Sept 3).

Twelfth seed Halep saved four set points before converting on her seventh courtesy of a double fault by Rybakina in an epic, 18-minute first-set tiebreak in front of a rapt and roaring crowd inside Louis Armstrong Stadium.