Halep Hangs On to Win First Match of 2016

It took a couple of weeks into the season, but world number two Simona Halep made her 2016 debut on Tuesday at the Sydney International, outlasting France’s Caroline Garcia 6-4, 2-6, 6-1 to advance.

The top-seed from Romania showed some signs of rust in this one. After converting on her only break point chance of the opening set to take it 6-4, Halep was dominated by Garcia in the second frame.

Garcia converted on both of her break point chances and hit 10 winners to just three unforced errors to roll to a 6-2 second set victory, forcing the match into a deciding third set.

Halep quickly stifled any momentum Garcia had built up, winning six of the third-set’s seven games to close out the victory and move into the quarterfinals.

“It was a tough match. I actually expected a tough match because I know her pretty well. She’s strong and she hits the ball strong. She has a good serve. I think I did well today though,” said Halep. “Especially in the third set, I think I was strong and solid—I played my best tennis in the third set.”

Up next for Halep is big-hitting Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic. Pliskova, the fifth-seed, took out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-0 in her second-round match on Tuesday.

Halep is 2-0 all-time against Pliskova.

Eighth-seeded Swiss Belinda Bencic rolled in her match Tuesday, moving past Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3, 6-3. Bencic will take on Russian Ekaterina Makarova in the quarterfinals. Makarova received a walkover when Germany’s Angelique Kerber withdrew from the tournament.

Italian Sara Errani may have won the most thrilling match of the second-round in Sydney. After taking the first set in a tiebreaker, Errani fought back from 1-5 down in the second set to force a tiebreaker, eventually winning it to close out the match 7-6(3), 7-6(8) and book her spot in the quarterfinals.

“It was very tough, physically,” said Errani afterwards. “With her, all of our matches are like this. We always play long matches, long points.”

In the quarterfinals, Errani will take on Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who downed Germany’s Sabine Lisicki 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to book her spot in the final eight.

The other Sydney quarterfinal will see Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig square off against second-seeded Australian Samantha Stosur.