By Giovanni Vianello
Simona Halep knocks out Barbora Strycova 6-1 6-0 and gains a spot in the Toronto Quarter-Finals against Caroline Garcia.
Simona Halep stuns Barbora Strycova with an almost humiliating 6-1 6-0 and reaches the WTA Toronto quarter-finals. The head-to-head was 3-1 for the Romanian player, with Strycova’s sole win having come in the qualification draw of the GDF-Suez Open in Paris in 2010. Halep once won thanks to a withdraw of the opponent, in Indian Wells in 2016. Halep is the world number 2 and number 1 in the Race to Singapore, the Czech player is ranked 26 in the world.
The match begins with three games in which the returning player only scores one point, then, in the fourth game, Strycova loses her service from an advantage of 40-15 and after having lost four consecutive points. The first sets since now on is a monologue by the Romanian, who wins 6-1.
In the first set Strycova isn’t able to take advantage of the fast surface and, despite her flat groundstrokes, isn’t able to come forward to the net; Strycova ended up wrapped in the net of Halep baseline powerful and top-spin shots, which make the Czech run a lot. In the second set things get even worse for Strycova. She immediately loses her serve at 30 with a double fault and then the Czech finds herself down of two breaks of serve, with the score being 3-0 for Halep.
At this point, Strycova calls the coach. The coaching seems to have some positive effects on the Czech, who reaches a break point in the fourth game, but Halep then clinches a 4-0 lead. The Romanian shows no mercy and at first breaks her opponent for the fifth consecutive time, then holds serve and so wins the second set with a bagel.
All in all, the match was a no-contest, Strycova failed to attack the net, both because of her own faults and because of Halep aggressive baseline game, and the result was quite a logical consequence. In the quarter-final Halep will face Caroline Garcia. They have only met once before, which saw Halep win in three sets in Brisbane last year.
