Halep holds off Barty in first of two Cincy matches

CINCINNATI, OH, USA - One down, one to go. 

World No.1 Simona Halep booked her spot in the quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Open with a 7-5, 6-4 win over No.16 seed Ashleigh Barty to begin play on Friday at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

The third round match was one of two holdovers from Thursday night's action, which was postponed due to rain, and Halep advances to face Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko in a quarterfinal set to take place on Friday evening.

Tsurenko upset defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round, and booked her spot in the quarterfinals with a 7-6(5), 6-2 win over Ekaterina Makarova on Thursday, rallying from a 5-1 first set deficit.

Halep improved her winning streak to seven straight matches after winning the title in Montreal last week, where she also defeated Barty en route - though that victory came in the semifinals.

"It was very tricky, and she's a tough opponent because she's mixing the rhythm. I'm really happy I can go through this, and tonight, I'll have another match," Halep said in her on-court interview.

"I feel like she missed more than me today, and when I started to play more on the backhand and make her move, it was better for me."

The Romanian dropped just five games overall in last week's victory over the Aussie No.1, but was made to work considerably harder in a 90-minute victory on Friday.

The World No.1 rallied from a break down in the first set, as Barty won three of the first four games of the match, and won the last three games of the opener after holding at love when she served to stay in the set.

She also bounced back from losing the first two games of the second set, as the No.16 seed again led by an early break, to win four straight games and take control of the match.

Barty remained in touch from there, and even had a break point in the match's final game to level proceedings at 5-5, but Halep ultimately wrapped up victory with a backhand winner.

Halep has won all four meetings against Ukrainian No.2 Tsurenko in her career, but the two have not played in over four years - with their last meeting at Wimbledon in 2014 going the distance.  

On how she'll recover for tonight's affair against the World No.44, Halep said: "Hopefully, tonight I can play good tennis. I will have treatment, a power nap, and hopefully I will be okay."