Halep comes back to earn victory

Simona Halep was grabbing her left thigh and arching her aching back while breathing heavily against Sabine Lisicki.

Yesterday, Halep survived. The Open's No. 2 seed pulled out a 6-7 (6) 7-5, 6-2 win over Lisicki to reach the quarterfinals and a matchup with Victoria Azarenka.

"At the beginning . . . I was cramping in my back. Then the leg was worse," said Halep. "It's tough to play in the U.S. Open because it's the last one. All of us are playing like crazy all year."

In other women's results, Azarenka breezed to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Varvara Lepchenko and Petra Kvitova also beat Johanna Konta in straight sets.