Halep Into Aegon Quarterfinals
Top-seeded Simona Halep needed just 50 minutes to move into the Aegon Classic quarterfinals on Thursday, moving past Czech Klara Koukalova 6-1, 6-3.
Halep dominated the match from the start, hitting 14 winners to just 12 unforced errors. On serve, she put together a 79 percent first-serve percentage and didn’t allow Koukalova any opportunity to get back into the match.
“I expected a tough match because she plays very hard on grass with her type of game,” said Halep. “It’s difficult to play her on this surface but I didn’t really want to think about that—I just came out here and played my game, played my style, stayed aggressive and especially served very well in the match.
It was a good match for me today. It was my second match on grass this year so I’m feeling better on it, and I feel no pressure—I’m just enjoying the tennis here, and enjoying playing on this nice court.”
In the quarterfinals, Halep will take on France’s Kristina Mladenovic, who took out 10th-seeded Czech Barbora Strycova 7-6(4), 6-2 on Thursday.
Third-seed Carla Suarez-Navarro moved on as well, downing 13th-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4. The Spaniard broke three times on seven chances and converted on 73 percent of her second serves to hold off Kuznetsova.
Suarez-Navarro will meet Karolina Pliskova in the quarters after Pliskova cruised past Zarina Diyas 6-2, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Angelique Kerber beat 15th-seeded Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-2 to set up a quarterfinal clash with Katerina Siniakova, who knocked out American Christina McHale, 6-4, 6-0.
The other quarterfinal from Birmingham will see Sabine Lisicki take on the winner of the match between Daniela Hantuchova and Michelle Larcher de Brito.
