Simona Halep starts her 2019 not in the best way in Sydney.
The world no.1 was opposed to Ashleigh Barty in her opener, and it was well known that the Australian would have been a tough customer.
Ashleigh broke Simona already in the 4th game (3-1), but then she conceded back that break soon after (3-2). Later the Romanian dropped her serve in the 10th game to “give” the set to Barty (6-4).
Simona tried to storm back in the second set, and it seems that she could make things right when she conquered Barty’s serve in the 7th game (4-2). However, that was the end of it as the Australian managed to win the following 3 games after battling in all of them. The final score was 6-4 6-4, and the match ended after 1 hour and 27 minutes.
After this encounter, Simona has lost the last 5 matches and 9 consecutive games. This losing streak also happened because the Romanian suffered from a nasty back injury. The big question mark is if Halep will manage to get back at her top level for the Australian Open.
Probably not.
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STRUGGLING
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| Embed from Getty Images |
