In the third set, it was a topsy-turvy affair before the Hungarian failed to hold serve at an important moment allowing Halep to seal a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory.
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Halep, who raised her three-set record to 11-5, will take on 11th-seeded Carla Suarez Navarro in a battle of brilliant backhands with a quarterfinal spot on the line.
Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also reached the last 16 for the fifth time with a 6-2, 6-3 win over France’s Caroline Garcia.
But even a tactically timed toilet break by Suarez Navarro, taken with Halep still needing just a single game to take the match, wasn’t enough to force a third set.
The Spaniard continued to struggle during the second but at 5-3 down, she managed to extend the match by breaking Halep but she immediately dropped serve for sixth time in the contest and Halep was able to serve it out at the second time of asking.
On Friday, Novak Djokovic reached the US Open last 16 in just 32 minutes when Mikhail Youzhny retired injured before fellow two-time victor Rafael Nadal also made the fourth round for the first time in three years. The Romanian could not save any and was broken for the first time in the match as Babos took a 2-1 lead.
Nadal reached the fourth round for the first time since 2013 – the year of his last NY title – with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 win over Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov. If you want to win a Grand Slam event to pass over your own limits during a match, it’s only the first step.
The 2015 US Open semifinalist permitted just five points on her first serve racing through the 24-minute first set. Halep became the second top-10 seed to avoid an upset in the third round, one day after American Madison Keys rallied back against unseeded Naomi Osaka.
Frustrated by being pushed around behind the baseline, Halep bounced her Wilson racquet off the blue court getting some major height off the battered black-and-orange stick and a code violation in the process. He’s had four tour wins and a run to the French Open semifinals this year. It’s really tough to beat her.
In the round of 16 at a major for the first time since 2013, del Potro next faces eighth-seeded Dominic Thiem.
Thiem, who turned 23 on Saturday, has had a breakthrough year, reaching the French Open semifinals and cracking the top 10.
Tsonga, a two-time quarterfinalist, made the last 16 with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) victory over South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.
The 27-year-old Tsurenko committed 44 unforced errors.
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Though she was pleased by her resilience, Halep has to be concerned with her back issue and her second serve, which averaged 76 miles per hour but produced several attackable second deliveries as well. Babos still had the momentum and at some point, she was leading with 3-1.
