PRAGUE. Gritty Halep survives Hercog in the 1st round. HIGHLIGHTS

PRAGUE OPEN - PRAGUE DRAW AND RESULTS. Halep survives Hercog to fight against Barbora Krejcikova in the 2nd round

By
Luke Meyer
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Prediction and head to head Simona Halep vs. Polona Hercog

Simona Halep outlasts Polona Hercog 6-1 1-6 7-63 in the 1st round in Prague on Tuesday after winning a huge battle. Halep will engage against Barbora Krejcikova in the 2nd round.

Score, report, and key facts

Halep didn’t want to give any chance to the opposition at the beginning of the set after breaking Hercog in the 2nd game (2-0). Anyhow, that wasn’t sufficient for Simona to win the set as Polona found the way to break back in the 3rd (1-2) game. Simona kept her focus to break Hercog in the 4th (3-1) and in the 6th (5-1) game before winning the set (6-1).

The Slovenian was dominated in the last 4 games of the set when the game count went from 2-1 to 6-1.

The Romanian converted 60% of her break points (3/5). She had 5 break points opportunities in the 2nd (1-0 40-A), the 3rd (2-1 15-40) and the 6th game (4-1 15-40, 30-40 and 40-A). Also, on the other side, Polona converted 50% of her break points (1/2). She had her opportunities in the 0th (0-0 30-40) and the 2nd game (0-2 30-40).

They played 51 points. Halep won 13 more points than the Slovenian (32-19). The Romanian surrendered 9 points on serve (15-9). In addition, on the other side, Polona conceded 17 points on serve (10-17).

Halep had a pretty good kick start of the set after breaking Hercog in the 1st game (1-0). However, the Slovenian found the way to come back to break Simona 3 times in the 2nd (1-1), in the 4th (3-1) and in the 6th (5-1) game before winning the set (6-1).

Halep was eclipsed in the last 6 games of the set when the scoreline went from 0-1 to 6-1.

The Slovenian converted 60% of her break points (3/5). She had 5 break points opportunities in the 2nd (0-1 15-40), the 3rd (2-1 15-40) and the 6th game (4-1 40-A, 40-A and 40-A). In addition on the other side, Simona converted 50% of her break points (1/2). She had her opportunities in the 1st (0-0 30-40) and the 3rd game (1-1 30-40).

They contested 55 points. Hercog was the winner of the set after clinching 13 points more than the Romanian (34-21). Polona conceded 12 points on serve (17-12). On the losing side, Simona conceded 17 points on serve (9-17).

Halep won the set after she broke the Slovenian in the 4th (3-1) and in the 8th (5-3) game. Polona tried to stage a comeback breaking in the 5th (3-2) and in the 9th (5-4) game. However, Halep managed to stay calm and finish the job to eventually clinch the set at the following breaker at 3.

The Romanian failed to serve out the set when leading 5-3 to be broken at 15.

Simona was unable to break Polona in the 10th game when she had 3 consecutive chances (0-40).

Tiebreak

Simona won 4 minibreaks in the 2nd (1-1), 6th (4-2), 7th (5-2) and 10th (7-3) point. On the other side, Hercog won 2 minibreaks in the 1st (1-0) and 8th (3-5) point.

Halep won the tiebreak 7-3 after she conquered a decisive 5-3 lead.

This was the tiebreak sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, 5-3, 6-3, 7-3

Halep converted 16% of her break points (2/12). She had 12 break points opportunities in the 2nd (1-0 40-A and 40-A), the 4th (2-1 15-40), the 6th (3-2 30-40), the 8th (4-3 40-A and 40-A), the 10th (5-4 0-40, 15-40 and 30-40) and the 12th game (6-5 15-40, 30-40 and 40-A). In addition on the other side, Hercog converted 50% of her break points (2/4). She had her opportunities in the 2nd (1-1 40-A), the 5th (1-3 30-40 and 40-A) and the 9th game (3-5 15-40).

They contested 108 points. Simona was the winner of the set after clinching 4 points more than Polona (56-52). Halep dropped 22 points on serve (27-22). on the other side of the net, Hercog conceded 29 points on serve (30-29).

Simona will add to her prize money € 850 after managing to win this match. She has won already € 3,150 after this win. If she wins the next match, Halep will add € 1,850 to her earnings to earn € 5,000 in total.

Match Statistics

Halep
Hercog
Simona Halep
6-1 1-6 7-63
Polona Hercog
109
109
Total points
105
105
37
37
Winners
39
39
34%
34%
Ratio Winners
37%
37%
-- Serve --
1
1
Aces
1
1
8
8
Double Faults
4
4
69%
69%
1st in
67%
67%
54%
54%
1st won
50%
50%
37/68
37/68
1st won
39/78
39/78
43%
43%
2nd won
47%
47%
13/30
13/30
2nd won
18/38
18/38
-- Break Points --
6/19
6/19
Total
6/11
6/11
32%
32%
Won
55%
55%
See Full Stats

At the end of the match, the Romanian scored 109 points vs. the Slovenian’s 105.

Halep won this match even if she was struggling to find the solution in converting her break points after she converted only 32% (6/19) of the procured opportunities. On the other side, the Slovenian was pretty effective at converting 55% of the break points that she conquered points (6/11). Nonetheless, that was not enough to win the contest.

After this match, the head to head between Halep and Hercog is 3-1 for Simona.

Highlights Simona Halep vs. Polona Hercog Prague Open – Prague

Draw and next match H2H: Simona Halep vs. Barbora Krejcikova – stats

Halep will fight against Krejcikova in the 2nd round.

This will be the 2nd time that Simona Halep and Barbora Krejcikova square off. The head to head is 1-0 for Halep (see full H2H stats), 1-0 on clay.

The last time that they locked horns, Halep won 3-6 6-1 6-1 in the 1st round in Bucharest back in 2016.

Simona Halep Draw info

Tennis Scores in Prague

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