The spell is broken: For the first time in her professional career, Simona Halep won against Maria Sharapova – and is in the quarter-finals.
nearby
She was short of it a few times, but in the end it was always a defeat for Simona Halep against “MaSha” – as in the French Open final in 2014 or a few weeks ago in round one at the US Open.Now Halep celebrated her first victory over Sharapova and deserving of 6:2,6:2.
Halep was the better player from the beginning and always came back from the defensive – thanks to her strong leg work.That was exactly what Sharapova lacked, she was often badly on the ball and made too many mistakes – 39 in total (with Halep it was only 6).Halep also hit hard, scoring 74 percent of her first serve, and kept her nerves in the end: a backhand on the line, a sure forehand, an ace and a serve winner served her to victory.
The Romanian, under the watchful eye of new coach Andrei Pavel, will now face Agnieszka Radwanska or Daria Kasatkina, against whom she still has a score to settle: A week ago in Wuhan, the Russian dismantled Halep with 6:2,6:1.