Simona Halep slays Sesil Karatantcheva in opener – Hungarian Grand Prix 2013
Romanian star, Simona Halep, cruised past the Kazakhstani challenger, Sesil Karatantcheva, with a bagel at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 on Monday.
She jolted down a 6-3, 6-0 victory against the Kazakh to power into the second round at this WTA International level event being held in Budapest, Hungary.
Seeded third in this event, Halep reeled off last nine games to pocket the match in straight sets. The players last met each other in Bucharest and after earning this glory, the Romanian maintained her winning record and stayed on track to grab her third
title of the season.
The in-form Romanian was quoted in a courtside interview after bagging the match, “It was a good match for me. The first round is always difficult. At 3-0 in the first, I was a little nervous and wanted to finish fast because I was waiting a lot today, but
I came back and won. It's nice to play on clay because I love this surface. I played well on grass, but I feel better on clay.”
Halep made a storming entry in this match and went on a three-game killing spree. However, she lost her concentration and levelled the scores at 3-3. The Romanian lifted her game again and eventually pulled out the opener by winning six games to three.
Currently standing at her career best rank at 30th, Halep maintained her intensity in the following set. She unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and stroke out six games in a row.
Summing up the 21-year-old’s performance, Halep clobbered a much better first serve ratio of 73 per cent in contrast with the Kazakh’s 48 per cent and availed 21 out of 29 points on it. She spilled only three double faults in comparison with her rival’s
nine and ended the match with 56 points.
Next in line for Halep is the local teenager, Agnes Bukta. The 19-year-old nudged up a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory against Sandra Zahlavova in almost three hours.
The fifth seed, Johanna Larsson, snapped out of three match losing streak and progressed at this clay court event.
“I'm feeling okay,” the Swede reflected in a post match presser. “I hurt my back a little bit. I just wanted to check it and have a talk with the physio and see what she said, so hopefully it won't be a problem for me the rest of the tournament.”
The Swedish star warded off a set point in the second set before sealing the deal with a 6-2, 7-5 score line against Lara Arruabarrena.
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