"I struggled a little bit today" - Halep on first match in Washington

Simona Halep appeared to be in firm control of her round one matchup against Cristina Bucsa but things got complicated in the 2nd set.

The first one was a rather easy finish for the Romanian but the 2nd set saw her complicate things considerably. She had a chance to serve out the match but failed allowing Bucsa to come back into the match. At 5-5, Halep broke her opponent one last time and held her nerve to close it out in two sets. It was important for her as she noted after the match:

"I think every time you change surfaces it's difficult, and you need a little bit of time to get used to it. I struggled a little bit today, but it was really good that I could finish it in two sets."

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It was a wobbly match for Halep despite firing 19 winners as she also had 33 unforced errors. That's something that she will need to keep in check but the Spaniard put pressure on her quite well. Halep praised her opponent after the battle:

"[Bucsa is] a tough opponent, we played for the first time, and so it was not easy, and I'm really happy to go through."