Simona Halep reaches fourth round of Indian Wells by beating Varvara Lepchenko

Simona Halep has sealed a place in the fourth round of Indian Wells after beating Varvara Lepchenko 6-1 3-6 6-1 in California.

The world number three had a shaky start, but swiftly recovered by saving a break point on her opening game and then went a break up in the next.

Lepchenko created nine break-point opportunities in the first set, but she failed to take any of them as Halep did enough to secure the lead.

The Uzbek-American's persistence paid off in the second set as she took the only break of the set to keep herself in contention for glory.

Lepchenko looked to be on top when she broke Halep at the first time of asking in the deciding set, but her Romanian opponent swung the momentum in her direction by breaking serve three times in a row to wrap up the contest.