NEW YORK, August 31, 2018 (News Wires) - Maria Sharapova thwarted a second-set comeback bid by Sorana Cirstea, beating the Romanian 6-2, 7-5 to reach the third round of the US Open. Sharapova, the 2006 champion at Flushing Meadows, coughed up 10 double faults as she got off to a slow start on Arthur Ashe Stadium. But she improved to 21-0 in night matches at the tournament – recovering from a break down in the second set to finish it off in straight sets after the clock had ticked past midnight. "You've got to be crazy to be here after midnight," she said, giving the fans who stayed a nod of appreciation. Sharapova could have worked even later, but with Cirstea two points from forcing a third set Sharapova clawed back a break, and broke again in the final game to seal the win. "There's a saying we use a lot: It's not how you start it's how you finish," she said. The five-time Grand Slam winner booked a meeting with former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over American Taylor Townsend. "It only gets tougher from here," said Sharapova, the 22nd seed. "Being seeded in the 20s you know you're going to get tough draws. You know you're going to play Grand Slam champions. "She's a competitor, a great opponent. I look forward to it." World No 2 Caroline Wozniacki followed top-ranked Simona Halep out of the US Open on Thursday, falling 6-4, 6-2 to 36th-ranked Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko. Wozniacki, a former world No 1 who claimed her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, produced just six winners – no match for the 20 of Tsurenko who lined up a third-round meeting with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic. Siniakova saved a match point on the way to a 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4) victory over Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. Reigning Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber kept her bid for a second US Open title on track on Thursday, outlasting Sweden's Johanna Larsson 6-2, 5-7, 6-4. Germany's Kerber was knocked out in the first round last year in her defence of a 2016 US Open title that pushed her to No 1 in the world. Thanks to her comprehensive victory over US great Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final she returned to the Big Apple back in the top five in the world, aiming to join Serena and her sister Venus as the only women in the last 20 years to win both Wimbledon and the US Open in the same season. Kerber was cruising with a 5-2 lead in the second set when Larsson, seeking a first win over a top-five player, found her range. Larsson won the next five games – fending off two match points against her own serve – to take the second set. It was a dogfight the rest of the way in a third set that featured five breaks of serve. Kerber secured the last one for a 5-4 lead and after falling behind 0-30 roared back to take the game on her third match point, letting out a cry of mingled triumph and relief when Larsson sent a groundstroke long. "I think we both really played on a really high level from the first point," Kerber said. "At the end it was just one or two points that decided the match." Kerber will take on Dominika Cibulkova for a spot in the round of 16 after the Slovakian beat Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-4. Caroline Garcia didn't blink, holding serve in a marathon game lasting almost 20 minutes to key her 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Monica Puig. "This game was crazy!" sixth seed Garcia said after surviving six break points in a game that went to deuce 11 times to give herself a 5-4 lead in the final set. She knew it was crucial to hang on, defying not only Rio Olympics gold medalist Puig but also energy sapping heat and humidity to put herself in position to win. "Even if it was difficult, I knew if I could get this one the next one could be difficult for her," said Garcia, who had lost three prior matches against the Puerto Rican. So it proved, Puig bowing out meekly with a loss of serve. Garcia, a five-time winner on the WTA tour whose best Grand Slam result was a quarterfinal run at last year's French Open, next faces either French compatriot Kristina Mladenovic or Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro for a place in the last 16.
