Muguruza overcomes Keys

Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza overcame a long rain delay in the third set and fought off three match points Thursday before advancing to the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open.

The tournament’s No. 4 seed beat American Madison Keys 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to extend her successful summer. Since beating Venus Williams for the Wimbledon title, she has reached the quarterfinals of her last three tournaments.

The third set was tied 2-2 when a severe storm moved through the area, causing a nearly two-hour delay. After play resumed, Keys got ahead 6-5 and was serving for the match at 40-15 but hit a couple of balls into the net. She wasted another match point before Muguruza took it to the tiebreaker and dominated.

Muguruza grew up near Barcelona and learned about the attack in the Las Ramblas district during the rain delay. She contacted relatives to make sure they were fine.

Defending champion Karolina Pliskova and Rafael Nadal — the top seed in the men’s bracket — had their matches repeatedly pushed back by the rain. Three long delays and several shorter ones kept players waiting.

Before the first storm, second-seeded Simona Halep became the tournament’s first quarterfinalist with a 6-4, 6-3 win over 15th-seeded Anastasija Sevastova. The straight-set win was her second in two matches.

In the men’s bracket, Grigor Dimitrov rallied from a 4-1 second-set deficit for a 6-3, 7-5 win over Juan Martin del Potro.