Simona Halep has obtained a wild card in Washington, but she had to immediately overcome a tough hurdle in the opener against Sloane Stephens. The American is coming back from an injury, and she is a dangerous floater that no one wants to face in a first round.
Eventually, Simona managed to win the encounter 7-6 (3) 6-0. Most of the battle was fought in the opening set when Simona had to surrender her serve (3-2) soon after she broke Slone (3-1). Eventually, the opener went at the breaker and was Simona to win it at 3. The American imploded in the second set; Sloane was broken at love in the very first game, and then she wasn’t able to counter the Romanian that won the match in 79 minutes.
Top seed @Simona_Halep safely through to @CitiOpen Second round!
Defeats 2015 champ Stephens 7-6(3), 6-0! pic.twitter.com/WMwG56JLEu
— WTA (@WTA) August 1, 2017
Next vs. Duque-Marino
Simona will face the world no.115 Mariana Duque-Marino in the second round. The head to head is 1-0 for the Romanian that should have no problems to get to the third round.
CHASING NO.1
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