Simona Halep defeats Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round of the 2011 Grand Prix De SAR
World number 65 Simona Halep of Romania made short work of Alla Kudryavtseva in the second round of the 2011 Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem on Wednesday. She defeated Russian Pro in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 to secure her berth at the quarterfinals of the tournament, which is a part of WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tour.
Halep, ranked 65th in the world is currently the number-three ranked Woman’s tennis player in Romania behind world number twenty eight Alexandra Dulgheru and world number fifty eight Monica Niculescu.
The 19-year-old Halep kicked off the year by putting in an appearance at the ASB Classic, Auckland, where she reached the quarterfinals defeating Japanese Ayumi Morita and Russian Elena Vesnina, before losing to Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in straight sets. She then moved on to play at the Moorilla Hobart International where she couldn’t make past the third qualifying round and lost to Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova in a decisive set.
An outstanding display of mental and physical resilience from the Romanian booked her a place in the quarterfinals at the Grand Prix. The Romanian pro didn’t drop a single set and concluded the match in one hour and seventeen minutes. Being an aggressive baseliner, Halep started the match in a very aggressive fashion and managed to defeat her opponent with a loss of just only six games.
The match was predicted to a one-sided affair and the Romanian Pro actually proved it to be so. She made 71 percent of her first serves and won 88 percent of points on her first serves and 43 percent of points on her second serves. Kudryavtseva on the other hand, registered 76 percent of her first serves and gained 53 percent of points on her first serves and 50 percent of points on her second serves. Halep didn’t face any breakpoint opportunity in the first set but she fully capitalised on her first serves winning percentage and clinched the set with a 6-2 score line.
In the final set, Halep scored 60 percent of her first serves and gained 56 percent of points on her first serves and 33 percent of points on her second serves, whereas the Russian pro lagged behind with a difference of four percent on conversion and handed over the match with straight sets.
Halep has now extended her match winning streak to nine matches and will play against Greta Arn of Hungary in the quarterfinals of the tournament. Arn defeated Patricia Mayr-Achleitner of Austria and Kristyna Pliskova of Czech Republic in first two rounds of the tournament to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament.
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