WTA Madrid: Jabeur beats Bencic, Halep takes out Gauff
Ons Jabeur is in the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 event in Madrid. The Tunisian defeated Belinda Bencic in three sets and was joking afterwards. In the round of the last eight, the world number ten meets Simona Halep.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: May 02, 2022, 06:28 pm
"I hope Coco and Simona play for five hours. I saw Simona play very well," said Ons Jabeur after her hard-fought three-set win over Belinda Bencic from Switzerland. And immediately afterwards made an appeal to the Spanish viewers: "Just a reminder, folks, Simona won against Paula (Note Badosa) and she's Spanish, so if she wins, you have to cheer for me."
After her 6: 2, 3: 6 and 6: 3 success over Belinda Bencic, the Tunisian was in an excellent mood, after all she had the pleasure of being somewhat relaxed about her upcoming opponent, who was investigating the duel between Coco Gauff and Simona Halep became to wait. The match against Bencic was interrupted for a few minutes after two sets because of rain, Jabeur came out of this involuntary break much better. And so after just under two hours they made it into the quarter-finals.
Halep beats Gauff
Simona Halep, who has been working with Patrick Mouratoglou for a few weeks, is now waiting in the last eight. The Romanian took her excellent condition at the WTA 1000 event in Madrid into the round of 16 duel with youngster Coco Gauff, in the end Halep got the upper hand 6: 4 and 6: 4 in the second set despite being 4-1 down. In the course of the tournament so far, the Romanian had previously caused a sensation, especially with her clear victory against Paula Badosa - after all, the number two in the world.
After the short-term cancellation of Iga Swiatek and the surprising elimination of Paula Badosa, Maria Sakkari and Aryna Salabenka, Ons Jabeur (WTA-10th) and Emma Raducanu (WTA-11th) are now the best-ranked players in the draw.