US Open: Badosa into maiden US Open fourth round with thrilling win over Ruse

Paula Badosa, the No 26 seed, edged out Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8) to reach the last 16 of the US Open in a thrilling contest.

After surrendering the first set, Badosa regained her composure impressively, powering her way to a dominant second-set win to restore parity.

The third set was where the match caught light, with the Spaniard breaking early only for the irrepressible Ruse – putting in a performance worthy of compatriot and former world No 1 Simona Halep – to break back.

Badosa then saved a match point when serving at 5-4 down, winning seven points in a row to hold serve and then break to love to catapult herself into a 6-5 lead.

There was another twist, however, as Ruse pounced on a weak service game to send the match into a deserved 10-point tiebreak.

The match tiebreak was a close as the match itself, but Badosa gained an early lead and refused to relinquish it, eventually coming through on her second match point to seal a superb victory and reach the fourth round of the US Open for the first time in her career.

Badosa, ranked No 29, will face the winner of the match between Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, the No 20 seed, and Chinese Yafan Wang next.

The Spaniard won against Swiss Viktorija Golubic (6-0, 6-3) and American Taylor Townsend (6-3, 7-5) ahead of her victory.

In the previous rounds, Ruse, ranked No 122, defeated Austrian Julia Grabher (6-2, 6-4) and No 8 seed Barbora Krejcikova (6-4, 7-5).

New York (Grand Slam), other third-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75.000.000, most recent results first):

• Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Yulia Putintseva vs. Jasmine Paolini
• Karolina Muchova vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Anna Kalinskaya
• Jessika Ponchet vs. Caroline Wozniacki
• Jessica Bouzas Maneiro vs. Jessica Pegula
• Sara Errani vs. Diana Shnaider
• Ashlyn Krueger vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Iga Swiatek vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
• Madison Keys vs. Elise Mertens
• Donna Vekic vs. Peyton Stearns
• Emma Navarro (13) beat Marta Kostyuk (19): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
• Yafan Wang beat Victoria Azarenka (20): 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
• Coco Gauff (3) beat Elina Svitolina (27): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Qinwen Zheng (7) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-2, 6-1