Kaia Kanepi battles back to reach last eight

The 31st-seeded Kanepi won 0-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows for the first time. She had never been past the third round before this year. The 15th-seeded Wickmayer had only five unforced errors in the first set; she had a total of 37 in the last two. The 20-year-old Belgian hasn't been past the fourth round at a Grand Slam since her semi-final appearance at the US Open last year.

"I thought: 'Wow, I need to take a game,'" Kanepi said.

Kanepi had already made the longest run by an Estonian at the tournament in the Open era. Kanepi, who upset fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the third round, equals her best showing at a Grand Slam by reaching the quarter-finals. "She played really good tennis first set," Wickmayer insisted. "I won the set pretty easily on the score, but all the games were pretty tough and I had to fight for every point.

"I knew second set was going to be a tougher one. I had my chances in the second set and didn't take them."

Meanwhile, in the girls singles, Britain's Laura Robson, seeded No 8, beat third seed Chanelle Van Nguyen, of the US, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) to move into the third round.

Robson, a semi-finalist last year, was pushed hard, with a single break of serve proving enough to win the opening set. She broke early in the second set but was pegged back before coming through the tie-break to set up a meeting with another home player, either Robin Anderson or Kyle McPhillips, in the last 16.