Halep Powers Into U.S. Open Second Round
Romania’s Simona Halep was the first player through to the U.S. Open second round on Tuesday, as the fifth-seed rolled past Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-0, 6-2 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“The first round of the tournament is always tough, but I played my game today and it worked out in the end,” said Halep. “I tried to just keep focused and finish the match.”
Halep certainly was focused on Tuesday morning, winning the first 11 games of the match before Flipkens avoided the double bagel by breaking Halep. She would hold serve in the next game but that is where the potential comeback ended, as Halep held serve to push through in less than an hour.
She finished with 22 winners and was able to get off the court quickly, which will keep her fresh for her second round match against Czech Republic’s Lucie Safarova who got past Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-4.
American Nicole Gibbs looked impressive in her opener, losing just one game en route to a 6-1, 6-0 drubbing of Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic. Gibbs won 80 percent of her first serve points and converted on seven of her nine break point chances.
Ana Ivanovic saw her tournament come to an early end on Tuesday, as the 29th seeded Serbian was upset by Denisa Allertova of the Czech Republic. Ivanovic actually got out to an early break advantage in the opening set, but after Allertova answered back and took the first set in a tiebreaker, Allertova broke three times in the second set to advance in straight sets.
Allertova will play Sweden’s Johanna Larsson next who defeated Karin Knapp, 6-4, 6-2.
On the men’s side of the draw, sixth-seeded Kei Nishikori shook off a poor third set to defeat Benjamin Becker 6-1, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 and advance.
“I’m very happy with my tennis today. I think in the third set he started playing much better, a little more aggressive,” said Nishikori. “It was a great match and a good start to this week.”
Nishikori will take on Russian qualifier Karen Khachanov who beat Italian Thomas Fabbiano 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Below are some other results from the early action on Tuesday:
â–º(15) Timea Bacsinszky defeated Vitalia Dialchenko 6-1, 6-1
â–ºNicolas Mahut defeated (25) Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-5, 1-0 (ret.)
â–º(11) David Ferrer defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-5 (ret.)
â–ºShuai Zhang defeated Ellen Perez 6-1, 6-1
â–º(31) Timea Babos defeated Barbara Haas 5-7, 6-3, 7-5
â–º(27) Alexander Zverev defeated Daniel Brands 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6(4)
â–ºDaniel Evans defeated Rajeev Ram 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
â–º(22) Grigor Dimitrov defeated Inigo Cervates 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(7)
â–º(25) Caroline Garcia defeated Pauline Parmentier 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
â–ºPablo Carreno Busta defeated Ilya Ivashka 6-0, 7-5, 6-2
â–ºAna Konjuh defeated (20) Kiki Bertens 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
â–ºJeremy Chardy defeated Michael Mmoh 6-4, 6-4, 6-1
â–ºQiang Wang defeated (23) Daria Kasatkina 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
â–ºRichel Hogenkamp defeated Heather Watson 6-2, 7-5
â–ºYaroslava Shvedova defeated Lara Arruabarrena 6-2, 6-3
