By Tennis Now | Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Top-seeded Simona Halep won 12 of the last 15 games defeating Duan Ying-Ying to reach the Shenzhen Open quarterfinals.
Photo credit: Shenzhen Open/IMG
Simona Halep overcame a slow start with a furious finish.
The world No. 1 won 12 of the last 15 games fighting past China's Duan Ying-Ying, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, into the Shenzhen Open quarterfinals. The victory ensures Halep will secure the top seed at the upcoming Australian Open.
Watch: Marion Bartoli on Comeback
The top-seeded Romanian moved into the last eight after one hour, 39 minutes of play.
The 91st-ranked Chinese started strong and took the first set with a break in the fourth game. Halep's comeback began with a crucial break in the fourth game of the second set, which seemed to seep the confidence out of the 28-year-old Duan.
In the end, Halep posted 21 winners to just 13 unforced errors in the match, while Duan, who took a medical timeout to wrap her left thigh after the second set, racked up eight more unforced errors (27) to winners (19).
“I think she played really well in the first set but she got a little bit tired and with the problem with her leg, it was not easy for her to move," said 2015 champion Halep. "I also changed my tactic after the first set and moved closer to the baseline. I was hitting stronger and also moving better.”
Fourth seed and world No. 43 Irina-Camelia Begu also rallied from a set down to defeat Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 in two hours and seven minutes.
The 23-year-old Russian started strongly, breaking her Romanian opponent in the very first game of the match. However, Begu, who had prevailed in the last encounter between the two at Southsea last June, found her form as the game progressed and dropped only three games in the next two sets while converting five out of eight break points.
“She’s a really good young player so it was a little difficult," Begu said. "At the beginning, she was so aggressive, so I just taking it point by point to see what happens and hitting my shots earlier and closer to the baseline. Overall, I think I was really positive in this match.”
Defending champion and sixth seed Katerina Siniakova struggled with her serve during her second round tie against Chinese wild card Wang Yafan, recording six double faults and a first serve percentage of 58 percent, but was in the end able to secure a 7-5, 6-3 straight sets victory in one hour and 33 minutes.
“I’m happy to win because I was really fighting mostly with myself during this match," Siniakova said. "I started well but with my mistakes I really made it more difficult. Today I needed to serve a lot of second serves and I was forced to play a bit more defensively that I would have liked.”
World No.61 Kristyna Pliskova became the second Czech to make the quarterfinal with a 6-4, 7-6 (3) victory in one hour and 56 minutes over Romania’s Ana Bogdan in the day’s final match on Centre Court.
In doubles quarterfinal matches, Chinese pair Guo Hanyu and Wang Xinyu, having defeated the tournament third seeds in the first round, saw their run come to an end at the hands of 2017 Luxembourg champs Lesley Kerkhove and Lidziya Marozava, who stormed back from a set down to win 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 in 81 minutes.
Russia’s Anna Blinkova and German partner Nicola Geuer also moved into the semifinal with a resounding 6-2, 6-1 victory over the American-Canadian tandem of Nicole Gibbs and Carol Zhao in 52 minutes.
Meanwhile, Siniakova added a doubles win later in the day as she and her compatriot, Barbora Krejcikova, the top seeds in the draw, cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win over Chinese duo Lu Jing-Jing and Wang Qiang in just under an hour.
All singles quarterfinal matches will be played on Centre Court tomorrow starting from noon local time.
First up, the fourth and eighth seeds are set for a semifinal showdown as Begu meets Hungarian Timea Babos for the third time on tour, with the last two meetings coming on hard courts in 2016 and each player taking one victory each.
“We know each other pretty well as we have met each other a few times," Begu said. "I’m ready for it and I think it will be good to have a challenge like this. I’m happy to be playing her.”
Next up, Russia’s Maria Sharapova will meet Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas, with the former world No.1 having defeated the 24-year-old twice in 2015 - at the Australian Open second round and in the third round at Wimbledon.
“In the later stages of events, it only gets tougher and I look forward to that because I only want to get better and I know that I will have to against her,” said Sharapova of her quarterfinal opponent.
The third match of the day will see 19-year-old Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka making her first appearance on Centre Court against Halep. Sabalenka has looked impervious in the previous rounds, defeating Monica Niculescu and Danka Kovinic in straight sets, and will be meeting the top seed for the first time on tour.
“I have never played against her or seen how she plays so I will talk to my coach and maybe watch a little bit of her games. I know she is a big hitter, but I’m ready to play and we will see what happens,” said Halep of her young opponent.
The final match of the day will pit defending champ Siniakova against fellow Czech Pliskova. The two have previously met five times on the ITF tour and in the Miami Masters, with the 25-year-old Pliskova winning three of their five encounters.