Tennis: Simona Halep, Elise Mertens roar into Prague Open semi-finals
Romania’s No. 1 seed Halep breezes past Frech
Simona Halep showed why she is the top seed in the Prague Open as she wasted no time to march into the semi-finals with a thumping victory.
Halep needed just under an hour to see off Polish lucky loser Magdalena Frech 6-2, 6-0.
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“The whole game was better today,” Halep said after the victory. “I’m happy that I can play better and better day by day. It was a good one and I’ll take it.”
Halep will face either compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu or Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo, as their quarter-final was delayed by bad weather.
Meanwhile, No. 3 seed Mertens entered her first semi-final of 2020 after overcoming wildcard Eugenie Bouchard 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in her quarter-final clash.
“She hit the ball pretty well today, she made me run a lot. Her serve is tough to return. All credit to her for making me have a tough match. In the end, it was a mental game,” Mertens said of her opponent.
“I think the difference was physical, mental, maybe more mentally at the end. The games were pretty close, The first set was pretty close, in the second set she played really well, made fewer mistakes, became more aggressive, but I think at the end, it was just that one break. Just one service game made the difference,” she added.
The Belgian will now face Kristyna Pliskova of Czech Republic for a place in the finals.