Halep overpowers Sharapova in Open

MARIA Sharapova was emphatically dumped out of the China Open in the third round by Simona Halep yesterday, going down 6-2 6-2 to Romania’s world No 2.

The Russian, a former No 1 now languishing at 104 in the world rankings, is still searching for her first title since returning in April from a 15-month suspension for taking the banned substance meldonium.

Sharapova, 30, struggled all week with her serve and made a nightmare start as she lost the opening game to love, before breaking Halep back.

Halep had never got the better of the five-time grand slam champion in seven previous attempts, but she began to take a grip on the match despite the crowd’s vocal backing for Sharapova.

Halep, the second seed on Beijing’s outdoor hard courts, rammed home her superiority in the second set after again breaking Sharapova early.

With world No 1 Garbine Muguruza exiting in the first round with a virus, the 26-year-old Halep is now favourite in the Chinese capital.

In the men’s section, Nick Kyrgios said he wanted to make up for his notorious meltdown last year in Shanghai as he beat Mischa Zverev in the second round.

A year ago, the supremely talented but combustible Kyrgios was suspended for his petulant behaviour at the Shanghai Masters, where he swore and argued with the crowd and appeared to give away points in caving in to the German.

The Australian, seeded eighth this year, smashed his racket on the floor in anger, bending the head in half, when he conceded the opening set yesterday.

That earned the world No 19 a warning from the umpire and raised the spectre of last year.

But the 22-year-old returned for the second set with renewed determination and errors began creeping into Zverev’s game.

Zverev surrendered his first service game of the second set and Kyrgios was never in trouble after that, surging into the next round 3-6 6-2 6-2.

During one changeover, the Australian appeared so relaxed that he sat back on his chair, arms behind his head, and sang along with a pop hit played over the stadium loudspeakers.