Simona Halep eases past Kimiko Date-Krumm into 2nd round – Luxembourg Open 2011
Romanian Simona Halep outmuscled Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan in straight sets at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open 2011, a WTA International tier-III event taking place on the indoor hard courts in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
She registered a 6-4, 7-5 victory over the 41-year-old Japanese veteran to secure a second round spot on Wednesday.
Ranked 56th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Halep put up a sold display of tennis to tumble over the Japanese, ranked 57 spots below her, on their first duel. She overpowered a former world number four, Krumm
in one hour and forty-seven minutes and inched towards her first WTA title.
Halep high spiritedly entered the opening game of the first set and got the coveted break to take an initial lead. Despite losing her edge in the following game, she broke the Japanese’s serve again in the third game and eventually
went 3-1 up. Halep lost her track again in the sixth game but sealed the opener by winning six games to four after converting another breakpoint opportunity to her advantage in the ninth game.
The Romanian brushed off two out of four breakpoints came across and capitalised on three out of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to bag the set comfortably. She clobbered an equal first serve share of 56 percent
but registered a plausible 60 percent win on it.
20-year-old Romanian carried her ways in the final set. After the Japanese held her serve in the first game, she unleashed her true form to wipe out next three games in a row. Regardless of losing her serve in the sixth game and
levelling the scores at 3-3, Halep maintained consistency in her remaining games and broke Krumm’s serve again in the eleventh game to clinch the set with a 7-5 win.
With her amazing defensive skills, she warded off five out of six breakpoints faced and cashed in on both breakpoint opportunities to her advantage. Regardless of clobbering a lower first serve share of 64 percent as compared to
Japanese’s 80 percent, she earned an impressive 71 percent win on it.
Next up for the Romanian is Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia. The Latvian upset fourth seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta in straight sets to set-up this meeting.
Ranked 107th in the WTA rankings, Sevastova shocked the Italian, world number eighteen, on their first battle. She lost her serve once but broke Pennetta’s serve four times to seal the deal with a 6-3, 6-2 score line
in one hour and seven minutes.
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