Halep rallies from a set down to beat Andreescu
Halep rallies from a set down to beat Andreescu in WTA Finals opener
Shenzhen, (China), Oct. 29: Simona Halep saved a match point before beating Canadian teen Bianca Andreescu 3-6, 7-6 (7-6), 6-3 Monday at the WTA Finals.
Halep, a former No.1 who won the Wimbledon title in July, saved the match point in the 12th game of the second set.
“Today was a challenge because she’s almost 10 years younger than me,” Halep said.
After the tiebreaker, both players sought medical treatment. Halep had her foot treated while the 19-year-old Andreescu, the U.S. Open champion, had a lower back problem. Andreescu also called for the trainer in the third set.
Earlier, defending champion Elina Svitolina stretched her unbeaten run at the season-ending tournament into a new year, beating Karolina Pliskova 7-6 (12), 6-4 in her opening match.
Svitolina, the only player in this year's field who has not won a title this season, was unbeaten in the tournament last year.
After exchanging service breaks in the first set, Svitolina converted her seventh set point. Pliskova also had a chance to take the first set, but she failed to take advantage of a set point at 9-8 in the tiebreaker.
“You tell yourself to stay in the moment,” Svitolina said of the lengthy tiebreaker.
OSAKA WITHDRAWS
DUE TO INJURY Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka vowed to be fit and firing for her Australian Open title defence after her season was abruptly cut short by injury at the WTA Finals on Tuesday.
The two-time Grand Slam winner, who was on a hot streak of 11 matches, withdrew from the season finale with a shoulder problem — the second straight year she has been forced out due to injury.
Third-ranked Osaka, who retired during last year's edition of the lucrative year-ender with a hamstring injury, had been due to play world number one Ashleigh Barty later on Tuesday.
Her place in Red Group will be taken by World No.10 Kiki Bertens, who will now face Australia’s Barty in Shenzhen.
The 23-year-old Osaka said she was unsure of the severity of the injury to her right shoulder, which she initially hurt during her triumph in Beijing earlier this month.