WTA Madrid: Simona Halep and Aryna Sabalenka sovereign, Pliskova out
Simona Halep and Aryna Sabalenka showed no nakedness in their second round matches in Madrid. With Karolina Pliskova, however, another seeded player has dropped out.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: May 02, 2021, 08:28 pm
It was a lightning start that Simona Halep made in her second round climb with the Chinese Saisai Zheng. The Romanian, who had declared it as a declared goal to win almost every clay court tournament, gave her opponent no breathing space in round one and made it 6-0 to 1-0.
In the second round, Zheng was able to make the events in Madrid a little more balanced, but in the end Halep was enough with a break to secure two-set success. In the round of 16, the number three of the tournament will now face Elise Mertens, who Elena Rybakina was able to take out of the tournament in an extremely competitive game.
Pliskova retired
Last week's Halep conqueror, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, also marched safely into the round of 16. In her encounter with Daria Kasatkina, Sabalenka only lost six games, winning 6: 3 and 6: 3. Jessica Pegula, who benefited from a task from Viktoria Azarenka, is now waiting in the eighth final.
In addition to the elimination of number two in the tournament - Naomi Osaka was defeated by Czech Karolina Muchova in the early afternoon - number six on the seeding list also had to give up surprisingly early: Karolina Pliskova had to admit defeat to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two sets - the Russian is now on Jennifer Brady, who had no problems with Jelena Ostapenko.