Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina advanced efficiently after a day of rain interruptions, both seeds reaching the quarter-finals of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters in straight sets Top seed Halep came from a break down in each set to overhaul Australian 16th seed Ashleigh Barty 7-5 6-4.
Ukrainian Svitolina, seeded fifth, beat 16-year-old American prodigy Amanda Anisimova 6-4, 6-4. Men were also working to conclude third-round matches, with Belgian 11th seed David Goffin upsetting Wimbledon finalist and sixth seed Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-4.
Anderson exited with just nine aces, dropping his serve three times. Halep set up a quarter-final clash with Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko with her second win in six days over Barty. She beat the Australian in the semi-finals in Montreal an her way to the title there.
On Thursday, Halep had returned to sew up victory over Ajla Tomljanovic after their second round match had been suspended the previous day due to rain, while reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens was knocked out in the third round by Elise Mertens. Stephens, seeded third, fell to the 15th seeded Belgian 7-6(8) 6-2 and failed to reach the quarter-finals for the third time in her past four events.
German fourth seed Angelique Kerber was also upset, going down 2-6 7-6(3) 6-4 to American Madison Keys, while Aryna Sabalenka beat sixth seed Caroline Garcia 6-4 3-6 7-5.
Keys recorded 55 winners to beat Kerber, a rare victory over the German who has come out on top in seven of their nine meetings. Halep had been two games away from reaching the third round when rain interrupted her match against Australian Tomljanovic on Wednesday, and while the conclusion was delayed again for about four hours on Thursday the Romanian wasted little time wrapping it up when she got the chance, sealing it 4-6 6-3 6-3. Kiki Bertens and Anett Kontaveit had their match suspended due to rain. Bertens took the first set 6-3 and Kontaveit led 4-1 in the second when play was halted.
In the men’s, Juan Martin del Potro quickly dispatched South Korean Chung Hyeon 6-2 6-3 in a second-round match carried over from the previous day because of inclement weather. Bad weather continued to play havoc with the evening schedule as second seed Roger Federer’s match against Leonardo Mayer. Several of Thursday afternoon’s matches were suspended in progress, with Novak Djokovic leading fifth seed Grigor Dimitrov 2-6 6-3 2-1 and Marin Cilic tied with Karen Khachanov at 7-6(5) 3-6 1-1.  Wild-card entrant Stan Wawrinka was up 2-1 in the first set against Marton Fucsovics.
In third round action, big-serving Milos Raonic beat fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov 7-6(6) 6-4 while Spanish 13th seed Pablo Carreno Busta topped Dutchman Robin Haase 6-4 6-2.
Del Potro and Chung were delayed from taking the court because of rain and then had to endure another weather-related suspension just six minutes into their match. Del Potro was not rattled by the delays, however, and did well to attack Chung’s forehand throughout the 81-minute encounter that determined the final entry into the last 16. “I am happy to beat these young players,” del Potro said. “He has a big future, and he is a nice player. I am glad to go through.” This marks Del Potro’s fourth consecutive last-16 appearance in Cincinnati.