Former world No.1 Simona Halep believes there are more positives than negatives to her early exit from the National Bank Open on Wednesday.
The sixth seed fell 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, to the in-form Danielle Collins who is currently on a 12-match winning streak. Twice in the final set Halep had a break advantage but failed to maintain the lead during the marathon encounter which lasted almost three hours. Despite the defeat, the two-time Grand Slam champion believes she is heading in the right direction.
“It was a great match in my opinion,” Halep told reporters. “After three months of a break, I played really well. Yeah, I am happy with everything today. Just sad that I lost the match, but I’m getting better.”
This week is the first time the 29-year-old has played on the Tour since May after being sidelined from action due to a serious calf injury. During a recent interview with Romanian reporters last week, Halep described the injury as one of the worst in her entire career. Against Collins, she managed to win 58% of her first service points but only 36% of her second.
Due to her absence from the Tour, Halep dropped outside of the world’s top 10 on Monday for the first time in 373 weeks which is one of the longest runs in the history of the WTA rankings.
As for Collins, she is rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with heading into the US Open later this month. The American has won back-to-back titles in Palermo and at the Silicone Valley classic. Her run of 12 wins in a row is the most she has ever achieved on the WTA Tour so far in her career.
“Honestly, I just feel really lucky,” she said. “Dealing with the physical stuff today after playing a lot of matches, it wasn’t easy. It definitely got the best of me physically and emotionally. So just being able to hang in there, just really proud to be able to pull through.”
Following her win, Collins confirmed that she hyperextended her knee twice whilst playing Halep and required a medical time out. However, there is no indication that she plans to pull out of the tournament and will play compatriot Jessica Pegula in the next round.
Halep is one of five top 10 seeds who have failed to reach the third round of the tournament this year. Another high-profile casualty on Wednesday was Elina Svitolina who fell 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to Johanna Konta. Konta is on the comeback from illness after contracting COVID-19.
List of third round matches
Aryna Sabalenka – Rebecca Marino
Maria Sakkari – Victoria Azarenka
Karolina Pliskova – Amanda Anisimova
Sara Sorribes Tormo – Katerina Siniakova
Petra Kvitova – Camila Giorgi
Coco Gauff – Johanna Konta
Danielle Collins – Jessica Pegula
Ons Jabeur – Bianca Andreescu
