(Reuters) -World number one Aryna Sabalenka kept her Cincinnati Open title defence alive by claiming a 7-6(3) 4-6 7-6(5) victory over Emma Raducanu in a marathon third-round clash on Monday, while Taylor Fritz advanced with a straight-sets win over Lorenzo Sonego.

Raducanu was the one who made the better start as she opened a 2-0 first-set lead before blowing it and the opener ultimately went into a tie-break, where Sabalenka won five points in a row to open a 6-1 lead before converting her third set point.

Suddenly, it was Raducanu struggling on serve, and Sabalenka had her first break point since the first set. The Brit snuffed it out with an ace, but was still made to work. On the sixth deuce of the game, Raducanu grew tired of a baby that had been crying for the last few minutes and disturbing her serve, and asked the umpire to intervene.