Paula Badosa, Emma Navarro move into US Open round of 16

No. 26 seed Paula Badosa came back from a set down and staved off a match point late in the third set Friday to reach the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time.

Badosa ultimately prevailed against Romanian qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse in a third-set tiebreak 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (8).

It was the second deciding-set tiebreak played on the women's side this tournament ( Ena Shibahara defeated Daria Saville in the first round).

Badosa has now reached the round of 16 at all four majors. She is the fifth Spanish woman in the Open era to reach the fourth round at all four Slams, following Garbine Muguruza , Conchita Martínez, Carla Suarez Navarro and Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario.

Badosa next faces China's Wang Yafan , who on Friday ousted No. 20 seed Victoria Azarenka 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. Azarenka, who battled through a migraine in her second-round match, is a three-time US Open finalist.

American Emma Navarro , the No. 13 seed, needed three sets but got past No. 19 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Up next for Navarro is a Wimbledon rematch with No. 3 Coco Gauff in the round of 16.

No. 7 seed Zheng Qinwen , the 2024 Olympic singles gold medalist and Australian Open runner-up, shook off slow starts in her first two matches and took down unseeded German Jule Niemeier 6-2, 6-1 to reach the round of 16 for a second straight year.

"Finally, it's the first match I won in two sets. ... It's not [been] easy for me to play after the Olympic Games," said Zheng, who has noted previous struggles with focus after deep tournament runs. "I'm starting to find my tennis and to play better and better."

Zheng is the second Chinese woman in the Open era to reach the round of 16 in back-to-back US Opens, joining Li Na , who did so in 2008 and 2009.

Zheng next faces Donna Vekic , whom she defeated in the gold-medal match in Paris. Since 1988, the only other matchup to occur both at the US Open and in the Olympic singles gold-medal match was Steffi Graf vs. Gabriela Sabatini in 1988. The US Open final was played right before the Seoul Olympics, and Graf beat Sabatini both events. Tennis returned to the Olympic program in 1988 after a long hiatus.

ESPN Stats & Information and Reuters contributed to this report.