Simona Halep has avoided the curse which has struck many of the women’s seeds at the Madrid Open by crushing Italy’s Karin Knapp 6-1, 6-1, in the second round.
The encounter was the second meeting between the two players after last year’s Australian Open. On that occasion Halep also eased herself to a straight sets win.
The only down side to the Romanian’s performance was in her first game of the match. Squandering her opening game due to some sluggish serving, Halep redeemed herself by claiming six consecutive games to take the first set after only 29 minutes of play. Knapp did occasionally pose a threat to Halep with the occasional winner, however, the Italian was lacking the consistency throughout.
The second set was a case of deja vu as Halep dominated proceedings on the court. Bullying Knapp around the court, Halep completed a outstanding rally with a deep shot to force her opponent to return the ball out, rewarding her the fifth break of the match to lead 4-1. There was no way that Knapp would stage a comeback as the error count mounter towards the end of the match. A return out of the court from the Italian handed Halep a trio of match points. She required only one to take the win after an outstanding return winner came from Halep’s racket.
Halep is only one out of four top-8 players remaining in the women’s draw. The 2014 Madrid finalist will be hoping to go one step further this week and claim the biggest title on clay in her career.
In the last sixteen Halep will play either Ekaterina Makarova or 10th seed Timea Bacsinszky.
Lucie Safarova withdraws
11th seed Lucie Safarova has pulled out of the tournament due to Gastroenteritis. Last week the Czech won her 7th WTA title at the Praque Open. Joining Safarova on the withdrawal list is Italy’s Camilla Giorgi, who withdrew due to a back injury.
