Montreal: Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu through

2015 finalist Simona Halep (5^th WTA) kicked off her Rogers Cup campaign in emphatic style, dispatching unseeded Aussie Daria Gavrilova, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the third round.

Halep and Gavrilova had split their last two meetings, and the 2015 Rising Star of the Year had gotten the better of her Romanian rival earlier this year at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, wtatennis.com reports.

But Halep, who was coming off her second title of the season at home in Bucharest, was in no mood for a long, drawn-out affair on Tuesday night. The No.5 seed raced through the opening set without facing a break point, and shook off an early wobble in the second set to secure her first straight-set win over Gavrilova in 86 minutes.

“She’s a very strong player,” the former French Open finalist said during her on-court interview. “I played her on the clay courts in Rome; she beat me there, and I knew how to play today. Hard is my favorite surface, I can say, and I felt pretty well today on court. I’m really happy how I could win against her in my first match on hardcourts.”

Playing a clean match from start to finish, the former World No.2 hit 16 winners to Gavrilova’s seven, and made just 17 errors to the Aussie’s 28.

Later on, Halep acknowledged the healthy Romanian presence in the crowd after booking a meeting with either No.14 seed Karolina Pliskova or Sara Errani, who reached the semi-finals at this very tournament one year ago.

“It’s always a pleasure to play in front of them; they come everywhere I play, so it’s a nice feeling. But I want to thank everyone who came today to watch us.”

Speaking with press after the match, Halep joked about needing encouragement to enter the doubles draw with compatriot Monica Niclescu; the two are already in the second round following a straight set win on Monday.

“Yesterday was a lot of fun and also very tough match, because Monica is saying every time, ‘C’mon, Simona!’

“But I played well. It gave a little more confidence for the match. Normally I don’t want to play because it’s tough to wait to play doubles. But I spoke with Darren, and he said that normally I should play more because it’s better than a normal practice.

“But still I’m not hundred percent that I want to play more doubles. I’m waiting to get older!”

Monica Niculescu defeats Jelena Ostapenko

Romanian tennis player Monica Niculescu (61^st WTA) defeated Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia, 38^th WTA) 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 in Montreal, recovering from 0-1 and 0-3 respectively in the first and second sets.

In the second round of the tournament in Montreal, Niculescu is to face 4^th seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.