“Just enjoy playing” Simona Halep cruises past Danka Kovinic to advance into the 4th round of the 2022 Australian Open
Simona Halep
14th seeded Simona Halep continues her exceptional form as she takes down Danka Kovinic 6-2, 6-1 in just 64 minutes on the John Cain Arena. This was Halep’s third consecutive straight-set win and the Romanian has dropped just 12 games across the 3 matches she has played so far as she moves into the Round of 16.
Halep put in a disciplined performance and made easy work of Danka who had taken down Emma Raducanu earlier in the 2nd round in a fiery 3-set battle and it showed that she was not fully recovered from the gruelling battle with the Brit and Halep made use of it perfectly.
Simona had 3 aces, 1 double fault, 19 winners, 17 unforced errors and won 3 out of the 5 breakpoints she had as she collected 60 points. Kovinic did not manage a single ace and 2 double faults to go with 25 unforced errors. She hit 11 winners and converted all 3 of her breakpoints and won a total of 35 points but they weren’t enough to help her defeat the Romanian on the other side of the court.
“Well, I feel in great shape to go into the fourth round again. In front of this crowd, it is always fun for me to play here, so I thank everyone for staying in this heat because it is very hot today. I feel like I played great, (Kovinic) was a little bit tired, she had a tough match before me. I feel good, more confident now because last year was a tough year and now I just enjoy playing tennis because I’m healthy,” said Simona during her on-court interview.
Simona Halep to take on Alize Cornet in Round 4
Simona now enters the 4th round of the Australian Open for the 7th time and this is the 5th consecutive time she has qualified into the 4th round. She will now take on Alize Cornet who she has met 4 times previously and is trailing 1-3 in the head-to-head. Halep is 8-0 going into the clash while Alize is 3-2.
Sarthak Shitole
(3446 Articles Published)