MELBOURNE, Australia — Top-seeded Simona Halep survived a marathon third-round battle with 76th-ranked Lauren Davis on Saturday at the Australian Open, ultimately prevailing, 4-6, 6-4, 15-13, after three hours and 44 minutes.
“I’m almost dead,” Halep, a 26-year-old Romanian, said in her on-court interview. “But it’s nice that we could show good tennis.”
Halep saved three match points at 10-11, and she finally served out the match on her fourth try. She had been up a break at 5-4, 6-5 and 8-7 in the third, which lasted two hours and 22 minutes.
Davis, a 24-year-old American, said she had slipped into an autopilot of sorts as the match continued into nearly uncharted scoreboard territory.