World No. 1 Simona Halep fought past some first set struggles and then cruised past Zheng Saisai 7-5, 6-0 on Thursday to reach the third round of Wimbledon for the third consecutive year.
Zheng served for the opening set at 5-4, but never reached set point, was broken and did not win a single game after that as Halep tallied nine on the trot with relative ease.
The French Open champion did not light up the stat sheet, placing just 67 percent of first serves in play and hitting 20 winners to 19 unforced errors, but Zheng’s play dropped precipitously in the later stages. The Chinese player won three of 14 first serve points and hit one winner in the second set.
The match turned on a Zheng second serve at 5-4, when Halep attacked a weak effort and controlled the point until Zheng knocked a forehand into the net. Two games later, Halep finally put together strong net play, then hit a backhand up the line on set point that Zheng could only dump into the net.
The Romanian was off and running from there. She dictated a tremendous rally at 0-1 in the second set, eventually wearing down the world No. 126. Two games later, she displayed exceptional court coverage, sending a drop shot back across the net that Zheng could not reach. That capped a stretch in which Halep won 16 of 20 points and did not trail in any of those four games.
“(The first set) definitely was a tough set. She played really well,” Halep told the BBC. “It was a little bit tough to get the rhythm. … I stopped missing and tried to put less power in the shot.”
That was more than enough against the 24-year-old, who has wins against Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber in the last two years but remains without a grand slam third round appearance. She hit just 11 winners, all but one of which came in an eventful first set where the pair twice exchanged back-to-back breaks.
Halep, meanwhile, continues her relatively soft early draw against Su-Weh Hsieh, who at No. 48 is the highest ranked player Halep has yet played.
“I feel good on grass now. I started to feel the game better,” Halep said. “I believe in my chance.”
