Simona Halep moves into French Open fourth round
Simona Halep cruises to a 6-0 6-1 victory over American Amanda Anisimova in just 54 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier
Friday 2 October 2020 21:31, UK
Top seed Simona Halep exacted brutal revenge on American teenager Amanda Anisimova to move ominously into the fourth round of the French Open on Friday.
Anisimova caused a huge upset last year when she comfortably beat Halep, then the defending champion, in the quarter-finals, but could not reproduce that form.
Halep was in typically miserly mood on Court Philippe Chatrier, giving precious little away and waiting for the 19-year-old Anisimova to make mistakes in a demolition job.
Halep said: "I took the game in my hands. Last year I was very far from the court, and I played fairly short so she could play her game.
"When she has time and she has the ball in the right position, she is very, very dangerous and she plays great. Today I think I did a great job changing a little bit the tactic.
"In my mind was what I have to do better to get better in the direction of my game. So I improved a lot, and definitely I am much better in many ways since last year."
She pocketed the opening set in 23 minutes and although 25th seed Anisimova, who had dropped only four games in her first two matches, briefly threatened a revival at the start of the second set Halep raced away to victory.
Halep will face another rising star in the next round when she plays Poland's Iga Swiatek in a repeat of their fourth-round clash last year in which Halep dropped only one game.
The Romanian has now won 17 matches in a row dating back to the Australian Open and her status as the title favourite has intensified with the exit of more than half the seeds in the women's tournament before the third round.
She is determined not to think too far ahead, saying: "The important thing for me is just to deliver what I have best on the day that I play, and then we'll see.
"I'm not thinking about the result. I just want to try to take my chance every time I step on the court, and I'm not thinking about the title. It's very far, and many players are playing really well in the draw. So no expectations about that."
Unseeded Polish teenager Swiatek continued her impressive progress as she swept aside former semi-finalist Eugenie Bouchard 6-3 6-2 to reach the last 16 for the second year running.
The 19-year-old simply had too much firepower for wildcard Bouchard as she struck 30 winners on a damp and heavy Court Simonne-Mathieu.
"If I play Simona again I just hope that it lasts longer than last year because it was only 40 minutes," Swiatek said. "I was so stressed. My next goal is to make sure I play my best tennis on a big stadium here."
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Bouchard, 26, will take some heart from her run but said she was beaten by a better player on the day.
"I felt the pressure from her, and that's what good players are going to do," she said. "That's what I try to do on the court as well but today she did that better than me."
Third seed Elina Svitolina also advanced with a 6-4 7-5 victory against Ekaterina Alexandrova.
"For me, it's important just to take one match at a time," said Svitolina. "I made two semi-finals last year, so I try to really not focus about winning. For sure it's in the back of my mind, and everyone wants to win the title, but you have to work really hard for it, you have to look for your chances and work really hard.
"It's only hard work that can bring you there."
The Ukrainian will face local favourite Caroline Garcia next after she rallied from a set down to beat 16th seeded Belgian Elise Mertens 1-6 6-4 7-5.
The small but noisy crowd created a real atmosphere and Garcia finally served it out on her sixth match point.
Fifth seed Kiki Bertens left the court in a wheelchair two days ago after suffering full body cramps at the end of her dramatic win over Sara Errani, but appears back to full health and eased to a 6-2 6-2 victory over Katerina Siniakova.
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