MADRID: On Tuesday Simona Halep said she has ‘no expectations’ this week. Less than 24 hours later, she achieved one of the most comprehensive wins of her career at the Madrid Open.
Opening up proceedings on the Manolo Santana stadium, the Romanian thrashed Viktoria Kuzmova 6-0, 6-0, in just 44 minutes. A 20-year-old Slovakian currently ranked 46th in the world. It was a near-perfect performance for Halep, who dropped only 12 points throughout the match. Claiming 84% of points behind her first serve and firing 14 winners past her error-stricken opponent. The dominating performance was only the fourth time in Halep’s career she has won a match without dropping a game.
“I felt peaceful on the court. And sometimes during the matches, you feel insecure about your game but today was not the case.” She said afterward. “Today, I felt every single shot and I knew that I could win every point against her. So I think the confidence was really very high.”
Halep’s one-sided victory comes after what has been far from ideal preparation for the Romanian. A hip injury forced her to miss her first clay-court event in Stuttgart. More recently, it has been a case of the cold that has hit her. The reason why she is putting no pressure on her title chances in Madrid.
Now playing without the expectation, it could ironically be the explanation behind her resurgence on the tour.
“It’s tough to expect something more from this match because I’m not healthy 100 percent and my energy is not 100 percent. But after this match, of course, my confidence goes higher.” Halep reflected.
“Expectations are not very high this week. I just want to go there and give everything I have. It is a tough week, but it is also a good week.” She added.
Despite the laid back approach, it doesn’t change the fact of how critical the clay-court swing is for the French Open champion this year. During that period, Halep is defending 2900 points, which is 50% of her total amount. A massive contrast to world No.1 Naomi Osaka, who has only 255 points to defend.
“I still feel the pressure because I had so many points to defend. But with them, I have learned that it’s not about defending points, it’s about building the points week-by-week.” Halep stated.
“Without expectations, you are more relaxed, you don’t feel stressed that you have to win that match, but still, when I step on the court, I want to win every match I play, so it’s in the middle.”
There was no celebration for Halep in the doubles at the Caja Magica. Partnered with compatriot Irina Camelia Begu, the duo crashed out in the second round. Falling 6-3, 6-3, to top seeds Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková. The former world No.1 dabbles in doubles tournaments throughout the season, also playing in Miami. However, her experience at grand slam level was at the 2015 Wimbledon Championships. An absence she has no intention of changing.
“I just want to focus on singles and I play doubles for some matches.” She explained.
“I love playing with Irina, we are friends, and it is nicer to play. But I play only a few times a year. My mind is not on being a professional doubles player, so I will stay with singles for the moment.”
In the quarter-finals at Madrid, Halep will take on Australia’s Ash Barty. She leads their head-to-head 2-1 but lost their most recent meeting at the Sydney International earlier this year.
Halep has now won 22 matches at the Madrid Open, which is the third highest in history. Only Maria Sharapova (23) and Petra Kvitova (28) have won more. Kvitova will play her third round match later on Wednesday.
