World number two Simona Halep has been knocked out of the US Open, losing 7-6 6-2 to Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni this evening.
The Romanian recovered from an early break in the opener to take the first set to a tie-break, but her opponent hit a string of winners to take the lead.
Halep struggled to return Lucic-Baroni's serve in the second, allowing the former Wimbledon semi-finalist to put her opponent under pressure with another break of serve at the start of the set.
The second seed failed to being up a single break point in the second set, allowing the Croatian to capitalise when she made errors on her own serve to clinch the win.
Lucic-Baroni will face Italy's Sara Errani in the next round.
Written by
Sian Cowper
Sian Cowper
