Simona Halep booked her place in the second week at the French Open with a strong 6-0, 7-5 victory over 26th seed Daria Kasatkina. Following the match, the Romanian fourth seed was confident about her form going into the second week as she chases after her first Grand Slam titles.
Considered by many to be the leading favorite for the title in Paris, fourth seed and 2014 finalist Simona Halep looked in brilliant form, moving past 26th-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina 6-0. 7-5 to book her spot in the second week at Roland Garros. Halep, who came into this year’s French Open with questions about a torn ligament in hear ankle, has emphatically dismissed any question marks surrounding her play, as the Madrid champion is yet to drop a set through the first week in Paris.
In the opening set, Halep sent an immediate message to her younger Russian opponent, breaking immediately before following that up with three consecutive games to lead a double break 4-0. The former finalist continued her assault of the Kasatkina serve, breaking the Charleston champion at love before sealing the first set on her own serve 6-0 to put away the dominant bagel set in under 30 minutes.
The second set was a far tougher affair as the pair exchanged breaks of serve in the third and sixth games of the set for 3-all. The 20-year-old began to find her best tennis later in the set as she broke the Romanian for 5-3, giving herself the chance to serve to level the match at a set apiece. Halep was ruthless though, saving a set point at 5-3 before breaking the Russian to get back on serve, and saving three more set points on her own serve at 5-4 to eventually take care of business and level the set at 5-all.
Discouraged by four set points brought up and gone, Kasatkina immediately dropped serve to love to hand Halep the break at 6-5, this time awarding the fourth seed the chance to serve out the match. The former finalist made no mistake with her opportunity, holding easily to finish off a brilliant performance and book herself a spot in the second week in Paris.
Following the match, Halep was in good spirits, feeling confident about the way she’s playing so far at Roland Garros. “It was a good match. I think I played really well the whole match, even if she has the 5-3 in the second set. I felt that I was pushing her back, and also I was rolling the ball pretty well,” commented Halep.
“I think it was a very high standard of tennis today. Also, she played really well. I mean, she’s a very tough opponent when I play her always. It’s difficult even if I won the first set 6-0, I knew it’s gonna be tougher, the second one. I’m really happy with the way I played today. I’m happy. I’m really happy,” The jubilant fourth seed added.
For Halep, there’s much reason to be happy regarding her play against Kasatkina, a skilled clay court player and a former Junior French Open champion just like herself. The Romanian served beautifully, hitting two aces to zero double faults as well as commanding her service games with 70% of her first serves in and winning a solid 60% of points off her first delivery. The former finalist was even better on second serve, winning 65% of points, leading to her only being broken twice throughout the match. Halep also was solid off the ground, hitting 25 winners to 13 unforced errors, a good ratio for success for the fourth seed.
Asked to describe how she would evaluate her first week heading into the round of 16, Halep said, “ Very nice feeling to be again in the second week. I had good matches. Not easy at all. I played well, and the most important thing is that I’m playing better match by match. Gives me confidence for the next week, and also nerves, but better nerves this time,” said a confident Romanian.
Halep will next play 21st seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Monday in the fourth round in Paris.
