Simona Halep tops Irina-Camelia Begu 7-62 6-3 in the semifinal in Prague on Saturday in what was an all-Romanian affair. Halep will fight against Elise Mertens in the final.
Score, report, and key facts
Simona won the set after recovering 3 times from a break down. In fact, after conceding her serve 3 times in the 3rd (1-2), in the 7th (3-4) and in the 11th (5-6) game, Halep broke back 3 times in the 4th (2-2), in the 10th (5-5) and in the 12th (6-6) game before bringing the set at the breaker that she won 7-2.
Halep failed to serve out the set when leading 5-5 to be broken at 30.
Tiebreak
Halep won 4 minibreaks in the 2nd (1-1), 6th (4-2), 7th (5-2) and 9th (7-2) point. On the other side, Begu won a minibreak in the 1st (1-0) point.
This was the tiebreak sequence: 0-1, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, 6-2, 7-c
Halep was flawless in converting all her break points in the 4th (1-2 0-40), the 10th (4-5 30-40) and the 12th game (5-6 15-40). On the other side, Begu converted 33% of her break points (3/9). She had her opportunities in the 3rd (1-1 0-40), the 7th (3-3 0-40, 15-40, 30-40, 40-A and 40-A) and the 11th game (5-5 0-40, 15-40 and 30-40).
They played 77 points. Halep conquered the set after winning 5 more points than Irina-Camelia (41-36). Simona conceded 20 points on serve (22-20). on the other side of the court, Irina-Camelia conceded 19 points on serve (16-19).
Halep was in a great position at the beginning of the set to break Begu in the 1st game (1-0). Anyhow, the set was not over yet and there was more work to do for Halep to win the set since Irina-Camelia found the way to break back in the 6th (3-3) game. Simona maintained her cool to break Begu in the 7th (4-3) and in the 9th (6-3) game.
Simona was perfect in converting all her break points in the 1st (0-0 30-40), the 7th (3-3 40-A) and the 9th game (5-3 0-40). On the other side, Begu was clinical in converting the only break point that she conquered in the 5th game (2-3 15-40).
They played 50 points. Simona was the one to win the set after conquering 10 points more than Begu (30-20). Halep surrendered 6 points on serve (13-6). on the other side of the court, Begu conceded 17 points on serve (14-17).
Halep will add to her prize money € 5,965 after managing to win this match. She has won already € 14,000 after this win. If she wins the next match, Simona will add € -14,000 to her earnings to earn € 0 in total.
Match Statistics
At the end of the match, Simona scored 71 points vs. Irina-Camelia’s 56.
Halep was exceptional in converting all the break points (6/6). On the other side, Irina-Camelia was struggling when converting her break points (only 40% – 4/10). That was one of the key issues for her defeat.
After this match, the head to head between Halep and Begu is 7-0 for Simona.
Highlights Simona Halep vs. Irina-Camelia Begu Prague Open – Prague
Halep’s Interview
Draw and next match H2H: Simona Halep vs. Elise Mertens – stats
Halep will play Mertens in the final.
This will be the 5th time that Simona Halep and Elise Mertens play each other. The head to head is 3-1 for Halep (see full H2H stats), 2-0 on clay.
The last time that they played each other, Halep won 6-4 6-4 in the 4th round in Melbourne back in January 2020.
Tennis Scores in Prague
- Simona HalepHalep – Irina-Camelia BeguBegu (7-62 6-3) – Stats and score progression
- Elise MertensMertens – Kristyna PliskovaPliskova (7-5 7-64) – Stats and score progression
Upcoming matches
- Simona HalepHalep – Elise MertensMertens (3-1) – H2H details and stats
