WTA: Cincinnati: Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina reach quarter-finals

World number one Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina have reached the quarter-finals of the WTA Premier 5 tournament in Cincinnati. The two top players clearly prevailed against their opponents.

Simona Halep is simply unconquerable at the moment. The Romanian is at the top of the world rankings and once again proved her fighting spirit at 7:5 and 6:4.

Against Ashleigh Barty Halep got off worse and ran behind. But the world’s number one fought her way back and took back the lost service game against the strongly playing Australian.

Halep didn’t seem tired at all after her title in Montreal last week and increased the pressure on Barty, who couldn’t stand it. After 46 minutes, the Romanian won the first round 7:5.

Barty also managed an early break in the second set and Halep was behind again. But as in the opening set, the Australian could not withstand the rising pressure and had to accept two breaks in a row.

The braver and at the end more solid player turned the first match point to the 7:5 and 6:4 final after almost 1:30 hours of play.

Elina Svitolina – Toronto winner from 2017 – lived up to her role as favourite against 17-year-old Amanda Anisimova. In the clear 6-4 and 6-4 win, the Ukrainian had the game under control and set the decisive pinpricks at the right time.

Anisimova fought hard but had to admit in the end that the six years older Svitolina was a size too big on that day.

Two breaks at 5-4 were enough for Svitolina to reach the quarter-finals in Cincinnati.