Fourth seed Simona Halep overcame a gutsy display from Elise Mertens to secure her place in the Australian Open quarter-finals with a 6-4 6-4 win.
The 2018 finalist was a break up in the first set and two breaks up in the second but saw her advantage eroded by the Belgian 16th seed in both sets.
However, Halep responded by moving up gears, and eventually won in one hour 37 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. The Romanian will play Estonian Anett Kontaveit in the last eight.
