Simona Halep through after fighting past Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Simona Halep has beaten Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 7-5 today to book her place in the Australian Open fourth round.

The Romanian was allowed to ease her way into the match, before she broke the American's serve midway through the opening set and efficiently served it out to take the lead.

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With her confidence flowing, Halep put her foot down in the second set and she quickly secured two breaks of serve, but Mattek-Sands showed both resilience and quality to win three games in a row.

However, her comeback was quickly nipped in the bud by the third seed, who broke for a fourth time and served out the match.

Halep will face Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in the next round.