Romanian tennis player Simona Halep (4th WTA, 6th seeded) has defeated Laura Siegemund (32nd WTA) 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday in Rome to reach the last sixteen round. It is Halep’s first victory against the German player, who defeated her twice at the Stuttgart tournament, both this year and last year.
In the first set Siegemund led until 3-2, the entire set being dominated by breaks of both players. In the second set Halep led 4-1, then 5-3, but the match was more balanced than shown by the score. Siegemund stayed with Halep in the second set, putting on a gutsy display, and managed to save four match points before finally falling to the sixth seed. Finally, Halep won in one hour and 44 minutes.
In the next round Simona Halep will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Following the win, Halep will collect 105 WTA points and EUR 26,302.
In the doubles, Monica Niculescu and Christina McHale (US) were defeated on Wednesday by the pair made up by Sara Errani/Martina Trevisan 2-6, 6-4, 10-8.