Halep, the defending champion from Romania, had been forced to go
the distance in the first two rounds. Playing her best match of the
tournament, she had no trouble against an error-strewn Tsurenko,
winning 6-2, 6-1 in just 55 minutes to extend her win streak against
the No. 27 seed from Ukraine to 8-0.
After a relatively cool start to the first week of the French Open,
temperatures are expected to soar to as high as 30 degrees Celsius
(86 F) at the end of the afternoon at Roland Garros in Paris.
Taking advantage of the balls kicking up higher on the clay of the
main Court Philippe-Chatrier, Halep took the first set in just 28
minutes as she dominated her opponent from the back of the court.
Tsurenko, who had won her previous match 11-9 in the decider against
Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic playing with a broken racket, requested a
medical timeout as she trailed 3-0 in the second set.
Watched by Romanian billionaire Ion Tiriac, Halep’s intensity never
dropped, as she took a 4-0 lead with aggressive shot-making. Serving
for the match at 5-0, Halep got broken, but booked a spot in the
fourth round in the next game with a volley, her ninth winner. She
made 14 errors, while Tsurenko had just 8 winners and made 32
unforced errors.
"It was a tough match even if the scoreline does not show it," Halep
said.
"Every day in my life I have that image of me winning last year in
my mind, it was my greatest moment of my career and it was all the
more satisfying for having won here in the juniors as well."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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