Angelique Kerber has entered the third round of the WTA tournament in Rome. The former world number one won her second round match against the Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu 3:6, 7:5, 7:5.
Kerber had to fight long with her serve at the beginning. From a score of 3-3, she only managed one point in the first set and had to give up her first service game to zero in the second set as well. But with two late breaks at 6:5 each, the world’s number twelve secured victory after two hours and 39 minutes.
In the next round, the eleventh seed in the $3.35 million sand court tournament will face Greece’s Maria Sakkari, who surprisingly beat Karolina Pliskova.
The latter caused a little scandal when, out of frustration, she destroyed the referee’s chair instead of the handshake.
As in Madrid, the current number one in the world, Simona Halep, showed herself in outstanding form at the start of the tournament. Against Indian Wells winner Naomi Osaka, Halep needed just 59 minutes to enter the third round with a 6-1, 6-0 win.
Only last April, Osaka prevailed over the Romanian in their semi-final victory in California. “I was just motivated with that match in mind and I was focused on my plan,” Halep said. “I tried to build up my points, open the field and beat Winner afterwards. But it’s quite difficult to win on this court.”
After she played the first game of the match, Halep took the remaining twelve in a row in an impressive manner. A total of 15 winners made 14 unforced mistakes, Osaka had a score of 29-10.
In round three, Halep now faces Madison Keys from the USA. The US Open finalist won 7:6(2) and 7:6(0) against Donna Vekic in just two sets.