BEIJING (AP) β Romania’s Simona Halep survived a topsy-turvy match against Andrea Petkovic featuring 17 breaks of serve, beating the German 7-6 (4), 5-7, 7-6 (1) to advance to the China Open quarterfinals on Thursday.
The second-seeded Halep was broken as she served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but took the tiebreaker comfortably to close out the win.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova also advanced when Venus Williams withdrew before their match with a viral illness.
On the men’s side, third-seeded Tomas Berdych stalled Viktor Troicki’s comeback from a year-long suspension for a missed drug test with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Seventh-seeded Ernests Gulbis of Latvia retired with a shoulder injury while trailing qualifier Martin Klizan 6-2, 3-0.
