U.S. Open champ Sloane Stephens advances in Montreal

MONTREAL – U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens advanced to the Rogers Cup quarterfinals, beating Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 7-5 on Thursday in the hard-court event.

After Suarez overcame a 5-1 deficit to tie the second set at 5, Stephens broke serve for a 6-5 lead and scored four straight points to put away the match, ending it with a sharp cross-court forehand.

“Maybe the old me would have kind of freaked out,” Stephens said. “I was kind of like, `OK, it’s fine, she’s allowed to play well. Just kind of regroup.’ I did that. I was happy with that.”

The 25-year-old Stephens, ranked No. 3 in the world, won a hard-court title in Miami in March and lost the French Open final to top-ranked Simona Halep. In the quarterfinals, the American will face Anastaija Sevastova of Latvia, a 6-3, 7-6 (2) winner over 10th-seeded Julian Goerges of Germany.

Sevastova, ranked 19th, won last month in Bucharest.

The top-seeded Halep advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over 13th-seeded Venus Williams in the second match of the day for both players. Halep set up a quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over Russia’s Maria Sharapova.

Ashleigh Barty of Australia beat France’s Alize Cornet 7-6 (3), 6-4. The 15th-seeded Barty will face Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, a 6-3, 6-2 winner over eighth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the fifth-seeded defending champion, beat Johanna Konta of Britain 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarterfinal against 14th-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium.

Mertens outlasted Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-0.

In delayed second-round matches, Halep topped Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6 (9), 4-6, 7-5, Sabalenka upset second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (4), Konta beat Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1, and Williams edged Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (4), 6-4.