Halep crashes out in shock loss

– World No 2 Simona Halep slumped to a shock 7-6 (8/6), 6-3 defeat to France’s Alize Cornet in the first round of the Madrid Open yesterday.

Halep reached the final in the Spanish capital last year, but looked out-of-sorts yesterday as a double-fault handed Cornet the opening set in a tie-break.

And the Romanian’s serve crumbled when serving to stay in the match in the second as Cornet wrapped up victory. –

Madrid