![](https://www.ubitennis.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Halep-2-400x265.jpg)
Simona Halep (zimbio)
World number one Simona Halep and former grand slam champion Maria Sharapova made successful starts to their 2018 campaign after thrashing Nicole Gibbs and Mihaela Buzarnescu respectively to make the second round in Shenzhen.
Heading into her first round match, current world number one Simona Halep was heading into the 2018 season with some fine form, having just won the Hua Hin exhibition and playing some sensational tennis at the end of the 2017 season.
However Halep knows that if she doesn’t start winning more trophies, then this form may count for nothing on a fierce WTA circuit. However against Nicole Gibbs, she showed us the fierce tennis that we all know she is capable of as she only dropped five games against the American en route to the second round.
The Romanian only lost four points on her first serve as she broke the World number 110 four times as she booked her place into the second round of the Shenzhen Open.
Halep revealed after the match how much she enjoyed competitive action again, “It was a good match, I started with a victory, which means a lot to me. I look forward to the next matches and hopefully I can get better and better.”
Halep will have to be on top form again as she takes on Ying-Ying Duan in the second round, who is only 19 places above Nicole Gibbs in the world rankings.
The Year of Sharapova?
![](https://www.ubitennis.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sharapova-1-400x267.jpg)
Maria Sharapova (zimbio)
However Halep wasn’t the only player on top form today, as the woman who beat her at the US Open last August, Maria Sharapova, produced a clinic to overcome Halep’s compatriot Mihaela Buzarnescu.
The multiple time grand slam champion hit 18 winners as she only lost three games to the tame Buzarnescu in a 6-0 6-3 demolition job.
Next for Sharapova is 2017 runner-up Alison Riske and the Russian knows the threat that awaits her in the second round, “She beat a crowd favourite yesterday (Wang Qiang), So I know I have a tough match ahead, but I just want to keep playing better, and keep improving no matter who is across the net.”
Sharapova set a real marker at the start of the season and knows that if she can compete for grand slams with the current crop of players like Garbine Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova and Jelena Ostapenko.
However consistency is crucial for Sharapova who lacked that in the sharp end of the 2017 season.
Here are the rest of the results from Day 2 of the Shenzhen Open:
Danka Kovinic def Maria Sakkari 4-6 6-2 6-3
Ekaterina Alexandrova def Stefanie Voegele 6-2 6-3
Timea Babos def Xiyu Wang 6-1 6-1
Zarina Diyas def Pauline Parmentier 6-3 6-4
Shuai Zhang def Anna Blinkova 6-3 6-4
Yafan Wang def Jasmine Paolini 6-0 6-4