Coco Gauff beats Arnya Sabalenka at Canadian Open in longest match of her career to set up Simona Halep quarter-final

Coco Gauff fought her way through a three-hour epic for the second day in a row at the Toronto Open on Thursday, beating sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 4-6 7-6(4) in the longest match of her career to set up a quarter-final clash with Simona Halep. The 18-year-old American looked set to stroll to victory when she opened up a 3-0 lead in the second set after taking the first, but Sabalenka mounted a spirited comeback to take the match all the way to a deciding tie-break.

Ad Gauff, who is the 10th seed in Toronto, spent 3 hours 11 minutes on court in the longest WTA-level main draw match of her career, just a day after requiring almost three hours to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. WTA TorontoSwiatek thrashes Tomljanovic to progress to Toronto last 16YESTERDAY AT 18:36 She also became the youngest player to reach back-to-back Canadian Open quarter-finals since Jennifer Capriati in 1990 and 1991.

The French Open finalist will now compete in her sixth quarter-final of the season on Friday against Halep, who defeated Jil Teichmann 6-2 7-5 to continue her impressive form. 'An extraordinary line-up' — Tsitsipas, Ruud join Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray for Laver Cup 'I'm terrible at goodbyes' — Tearful Williams says farewell to Toronto after loss to Bencic 'Maybe I'll have the chance' — Swiatek hopes to face Williams before retirement Sabalenka asked serious questions of Gauff early in the opening set, as the American had to save four break points at 2-1 down, her powerful serving helping her out of trouble to keep the score level.

The teenager initially couldn’t make her chances count when they came either, as Sabalenka snuffed out four break point opportunities in the opening four games. Gauff eventually made the