Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, 3rd seeded, has qualified to the third round at Roland Garros on Thursday, the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, defeating 6-4, 6-3, in one hour and 22 minutes, Tatjana Maria, 102nd WTA (Germany).
In the next round, Simona Halep will face Russia’s Daria Kasatkina, 26th seeded, who won 7-6 (1), 6-4, against Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic).
For her presence in round 3, Simona Halep secured a cheque for EUR 118,000 and 90 WTA points.
Simona Halep kept up her impressive form at the French Open, dispatching Tatjana Maria, 6-4, 6-3 to book a clay court special against Volvo Car Open champion Daria Kasatkina in the third round, wtatennis.com reports.
Despite arriving to Paris with injury concerns, the left ankle that hampered her Internazionali BNL d’Italia performance has looked stronger and stronger as the fortnight has progressed, helping her play some signature defence on Thursday.
Maria had won their only two encounters in 2009, Halep’s first year on tour, and gave the Romanian all she could handle in the 82-minute match, approaching the net and pulling off some audacious drop shots to keep each set close.
In the end, the 2014 finalist was able to pull away when it mattered most, winning the final two games of each set to put herself one match from the second week.
Halep played solid off both wings, hitting 23 winners to 19 unforced errors and broke serve five times on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Up next for the Romanian is No.26 seed Kasatkina, a fellow junior French Open champion who won her first WTA title on clay in Charleston.
Sorana Cîrstea defeated in round 2
Romanian tennis player Sorana Cîrstea failed to qualify to the third round at Roland Garros, being defeated 7-5, 6-4 by Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain – 21st seeded) on Thursday.
Sorana Cîrstea (64th WTA), was defeated in an hour and 29 minutes, complaining in set 2 of a right shoulder injury, for which he also received medical care during the match. For qualifying to the second round, Sorana Cîrstea will receive a cheque for EUR 70,000 and 45 WTA points.