Number 2 Simona Halep brushed aside 20-year-old unseeded player Daria Kasatkina 6-2 6-1 on the Tennis National Stadium to secure her spot in the semifinals of the China Open, where she will face 20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko in a re-match of this Roland Garros Final. With this win Halep avenged her first defeat in three head-to-head matches against Kasatkina, who beat the Romanian player in Wuhan last week.
Kasatkina came into her second Premier Mandatory quarter final after battling past Agnieszka Radwanska in a three-set match. She was too probably too tired after that hard-fought battle. In today’s quarter final against Halep the young Russian player saved two of the nine break points she faced during the match.
Halep hit 19 winners to 21 unforced errors to cruise into the semifinal after 69 minutes. The first set was marked by six breaks of serve in eight games. Halep earned three of the first four breaks to open up a 4-1 lead. Kasatkina pulled one of the three breaks back in the sixth game to claw her way back to 2-4. Halep got another break to love and served out for the first set at deuce. Halep broke three more times to wrap up the second set 6-1.
Halep has kept her chance of becoming world number 1 in the WTA Ranking after missing her chance three times this year at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Cincinnati. To fulfil her dream to reach the world number 1 spot and overtake Garbine Muguruza, Halep needs to reach the final in the Chinese capital.
Earlier this week Halep beat Maria Sharapova breaking a seven-match losing streak against the Russian player
“I think I played much better than in Wuhan. I changed the tactic and worked pretty well. I just did my game and my style, and I was very consistent and solid as well”, said Halep.
Jelena Ostapenko won the second quarter final beating Romanian Sorana Cristea 6-4 6-4 in a match marked by a lot of breaks of serve. The young Latvian player got an early break in the opening game. Cristea broke straight back in the second game after Ostapenko made two double faults. Ostapenko earned another break to take a 2-1 lead. She backed up the break before breaking once more to open up a 4-1 lead. Cristea pulled the break back for 2-4, as Ostapenko made another double fault.
Cristea earned another break, as Ostapenko was serving out the first set. The Romanian held serve to 15 to claw her way back to 4-5. Ostapenko served out for the first set by holding to love in the 10th game.
Ostapenko earned an early break at the start of the second set. Cristea broke back in the sixth game to draw level to 3-3. Ostapenko fought back by breaking once more and held her serve to open up a 5-3 lead. The Roland Garros champion served out the match to reach her seventh semifinal of the match.
