WTA Madrid: Simona Halep dispatches Paula Badosa in straight sets
The ex-world number one Simona Halep gave the more rated Paula Badosa no chance at the WTA Tour 1000 event in Madrid.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Apr 30, 2022, 10:00 pm
Has Simona Halep regained her old strength? In the second round of the WTA Tour 1000 tournament in Madrid, the Romanian clearly defeated second-seeded Paula Badosa 6: 3, 6: 1 in just 76 minutes of play. The Spaniard, who was born in New York, was lost from the start of the game, creating seven break chances over the entire duration of the match, but ultimately only able to convert one of them. Halep, on the other hand, took the service from the second in the world rankings five times.
Also Jabeur, Bencic and Azarenka continue
The unseeded 30-year-old has won the title in the Spanish capital twice in her career - in 2016 and 2017 she achieved absolute success, in 2014 and 2019 she lost in the final. In the round of 16, either the American Coco Gauff or the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva is waiting. Against both possible opponents, Halep leads in a direct comparison with 2:0 victories.
Also in the last 16 are Ons Jabeur, Belinda Bencic and Viktoria Azarenka. However, all three seeded players had to go the full distance to win their hard-fought games. Jabeur prevailed 7: 5, 0: 6, 6: 4 against the Russian Varvara Gracheva, Azarenka kept the upper hand against the Slovakian Tamara Zidansek 3: 6, 6: 1, 6: 3 and Bencic struggled against the Czech Karolina Muchova 6:3, 4:6, 7:5 to the next round.