Former semi-finalist Simona Halep produced a clinical performance as she recorded a routine 6-3 6-4 conquest of Kiki Bertens to advance to the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championships.
The fifth-seeded Romanian took just 69 minutes to move past her Dutch counterpart on Centre Court.
Halep conceded the opening game of the match but broke back right thereafter. At 3-2, she acquired yet another break off Bertens’ service game and consolidated throughout to take the first set, 6-4.
Halep carried on the momentum in the second as she raced to a 3-0 lead. She, then, looked firm on her serve as a forced error from Bertens handed the Romanian star a straight-set triumph.
“I’m really excited that I have reached the fourth round at Wimbledon,” BBC quoted the 24-year-old Halep, who scored 11 winners and committed as many double faults.
“It’s one of my special Grand Slams. It was really nice to play on the Centre Court. It was amazing today and I played good tennis and I’m happy that I could win in two sets.”
Talking about the Achilles injury that has continued to bother her since the start of this season, she added: “Yeah, I had pain in my Achilles, I couldn’t play. I can say that I’m ok, for now, but some days I have pain. I don’t know what is going on with my Achilles.”
Moving on, she either meets 9th seed Madison Keys or Alize Cornet for a place in the quarter-finals.
KERBER OVERCOMES TRICKY TIEBREAKER
Fourth seed Angelique Kerber, who pulled off her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year, overcame a tricky first-set tiebreaker to clinch a 7-6 (13/11) 6-1 win over fellow German Carina Witthoeft in the other third round encounter.
Up next, she’s scheduled to lock horns with Japan’s Misaki Doi for a berth in the last-eight stage.
