Simona Halep’s no.1 goal is still within sight after she dismissed Latvia’s Anastasija Sevastova 6-4, 6-3, in the third round of the Western and Southern Open.
The deceivingly straightforward scoreline disguised the up-and-down performance of the second seed. Her 15 winners were overshadowed by 28 unforced errors as well as four double faults. It was clear that the French Open finalist wasn’t at the top of her game as she exit the match with a shake of her head.
“It was really difficult,” Halep said via AFP news. “She’s a very tough opponent. I wasn’t concentrating on anything else but winning the match.”
During the opening set, the Romanian battled to a 2-0 lead before a wobble allowed Sevastova to claim four consecutive games. Still, it was Halep’s hitting intensity that saved her with Sevastova hitting an array of errors to squander her lead in the match. Best illustrated with a double fault followed by a backhand error from the Latvian during the last two points of the opening set.
Halep’s patchy performance continued into the second set, but she still managed to maintain a stronghold in the match. Twice she broke to close in on the finish line. Former US Open semifinalist Sevastova kept battling, but it failed to prevent the outcome. On the stroke of the 88th minute of the match, a failed backhand from the Latvian secured Halep a place in her fifth Cincinnati quarter-final.
Battling into the last eight of a WTA tournament for the tenth consecutive time, Halep is now three wins away from claiming the world No.1 position.
“I hope to make that position one day, but I don’t want to think about that. If it happens, I’ll be the happiest person, but I still have to work harder.” She said earlier this week about reaching the top spot.
Halep’s next opponent will be either Johanna Konta or Dominika Cibulkova. Against both of those players, the world No.2 has a losing head-to-head.
Another early winner in Cincinnati was Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian eighth seed required 77 minutes to defeat Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-4.
