Halep Rolls Into U.S. Open Round Three

Romania’s Simona Halep won the first ever day match under the roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday, cruising past the Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-4 to reach the third round of the U.S. Open.

“It was not an easy match. It was difficult. At one point, I lost the rhythm a little bit because she’s left handed and not easy to play against. I knew that she’s very tough. She was fighting until the end,” said Halep. “I played many times against her and all the matches were very close, so I expected that. I’m not the happiest with my game today, but I’m really in a good mood because I was able to finish in the important moments.”

Halep raced out to an early lead, breaking Safarova in the match’s opening game and building a quick 3-0 advantage. Safarova would respond, winning the next three games to get the set back on serve and even things at three-all, but Halep finished the set on a flurry, winning the final three games to win the 46 minute opening set.

In the second set, it was Safarova who broke for a 3-2 lead and looked prime to force this match into a deciding third set. But Halep broke right back, and after three consecutive holds of serve, the fifth-seed broke one more time to close things out and advance in straight sets.

Halep moves on to face 31st-seeded Hungarian Timea Babos, who knocked off qualifier Richel Hogenkamp 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday.

Fresh off of her title in Cincinnati, 10th-seeded Czech Karolina Pliskova rolled into the third round on Thursday as well, knocking off Paraguayan qualifier Montserrat Gonzalez, 6-1, 7-5.

Pliskova continued her dominant service games, winning 84 percent of her first serve points and saving two of the three break points she faced. Up next for Pliskova is the winner of the match between 17th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and France’s Kristina Mladenovic.

Also winning early on Thursday was Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, who cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Denisa Allertova, setting up a matchup with the winner of tonight’s all-American showdown under the lights of Ashe between Serena Williams and Vania King.