NEW YORK — Garbine Muguruza and Simona Halep have mastered the grass at Wimbledon and conquered the clay at the French Open. Maybe they finally have the answers for the hard courts of the US Open.
The two-time Grand Slam champions both pulled out three-set victories Friday to reach the fourth round of the year’s final Grand Slam tournament.
Muguruza beat three-time US Open finalist Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to match her best showing in New York.
The No. 9 seed from Spain reached the round of 16 in 2017, right after winning her Wimbledon title. She hadn’t been past the second round since, although said she always liked playing in New York despite her struggles.
“This year so far it’s working, so I just want to keep going,” Muguruza said.
Same with Halep, who fought through a marathon first-set tiebreaker and eventually beat Elena Rybakina 7-6 (11), 4-6, 6-3 to reach the fourth round for the first time since 2016.
Both players have been finalists at the Australian Open, also played on a hard court. But the US Open had proved a more difficult puzzle.
Halep had lost in the first round in 2017 and 2018 — the latter the first time that had happened to the No. 1 seed in the first round at the tournament — and her success this time was tough to expect after she missed Wimbledon and the French Open with a calf injury.
The No. 12 seed, who is from Romania, needed seven set points to finally win the tiebreaker after she was broken at love when serving for the set at 6-5.
She eventually won it when 19th-seeded Rybakina double-faulted, then worked her way to the round of 16 for the first time since reaching the quarterfinals in 2016.
French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova is also into the fourth round in her US Open debut. The Czech player, who is seeded eighth, beat Kamilla Rakhimova 6-4, 6-2 to set up a fourth-round meeting with Muguruza.
Krejcikova improved to 41-11 this season. Only top-ranked Ash Barty (42-7) has more wins in main draw matches on the women’s tour.
Another matchup of women’s Grand Slam champions was ahead later Friday when Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open winner, will face 2016 champion and No. 16 seed Angelique Kerber.
No. 3 seed Naomi Osaka, who won her second US Open title last year, was expected to be back on the court for the first time since the first night of the tournament to face Leylah Fernandez in a third-round match.
Osaka received a walkover into the third round when opponent Olga Danilovic withdrew Wednesday with a viral illness unrelated to COVID-19.