Wimbledon champion Halep, seeded fourth, earned a late break in the penultimate game of the final set to reach the third round after two hours of action.The Romanian has finished runner-up in Cincinnati three times, last reaching the final a year ago against Kiki Bertens.
In the next round, the 27-year-old, who retired injured from her Toronto quarter-final against Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova last week, will face either Madison Keys of the United States or Russia's Daria Kasatkina."Mentally, it was tough to return for me at the start after playing injured last week."But I didn't have pain, which is good. It took time to get a rhythm and then do something on court.
She went up a break in the third set, before letting the lead slip, only for the 43rd-ranked Alexandrova to serve two straight double-faults and fall 5-4 behind."After the first set, I felt I could play aggressive," she added."I also changed the tactics.Ninth seed Elina Svitolina, a semi-finalist four years ago, advanced past Belgian Elise Mertens 6-4, 6-1.Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan returns a shot to Kei Nishikori of Japan during the Western and Southern Open.
Australian Alex de Minaur defeated American Reilly Opelka 7-6 , 6-4 to set up a third-round tie with Nishioka.
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