French Open champion Simona Halep held her nerve to battle past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(9), 4-6, 7-5, in a marathon rain-interrupted match at the Rogers Cup.
The clash between the two players in Montreal lasted for three hours and seven minutes. Taking place over the course of two days. Halep, who was playing in her first match since Wimbledon, struggled at times to maintain consistency in the match. However, she managed to find her way to seal her eighth consecutive win against Pavlyuchenkova. Hitting 24 winners to 34 unforced errors and saving 11 out of 16 break points she faced.
“I’m feeling a little bit tired to be honest.” Halep said during her on-court interview.
“It was a great match, a great fight. She played unbelievable and was fighting until the end. So it made it more difficult.”
Halep began her clash against the Russian on Wednesday before poor weather halted proceedings whilst she was trailing 3-4. Upon resumption, the world No.1 struggled to tame a relentless Pavlyuchenkova from the onset. After breaking for a chance to serve the first set out at 6-5, Halep dropped serve in the following game to take proceedings into a tiebreaker. The cat and mouse chase continued with Halep seeing three set points come and go as well as saving one against Pavlyuchenkova. Nevertheless, she managed to close the 77-minute set with the help of a forehand shot from her opponent sailing out of the court.
The resilience of Pavlyuchenkova was something that frustrated the top seed. Twice Halep had a chance to break in the fourth game of the second set, but failed to convert. Her mood deteriorated further when a double fault at 4-4 gifted Pavlyuchenkova a break and the chance to serve to take the match into a decider. A task she did with the help of a forehand winner.
After taking a medical time out to have strapping on her right foot, Halep’s erratic play continued to play into the hands of her opponent. Who broke immediately at the start of the decider to stroll to a 2-0 lead. Facing the prospect of her earliest exit in the tournament since 2012, Halep resuscitated her match hopes by breaking back for 4-4 as Pavlyuchenkova’s belief started to fade. Continuing her late resurgence, she managed to close the match out when a backhand from the Russian ploughed into the net on match point.
“I have no idea. I am a little bit dead.” Halep responded when asked how will recover for the third round.
“It has been a long time since I played my last match at Wimbledon. I will just do my best to try and recover.”
Due to the weather, Halep will play her next match later in the day. Awaiting her in the last 16 will be Venus Williams. The American saw off Sorana Cirstea 7-6(4), 6-4, in her second round encounter.
“She’s a champion and it’s always difficult to play against her. On a hard court it is more difficult.” Halep said of Williams.
“I will just try to enjoy the match.”
Halep trails Williams 1-3 in their head-to-head, but hasn’t played her since the 2015 Italian Open.
