"I'm not scared about the wind. I never have been" says Halep on windy conditions in Indian Wells

2015 champion Simona Halep earned her second Top 20 win of the season, defeating birthday girl Coco Gauff in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Facing Gauff for the second time, Halep posted a nearly identical scoreline as their initial meeting at 2019 Wimbledon, which the Romanian won 6-3, 6-3 en route to her title run with this one being 6-3 6-4. The conditions were very windy and it troubled Guaff quite a bit while Halep was fine with it. Asked about it after the match, she said:

"I'm not scared about the wind. I have never been. Also when I was a kid. As I said I think I played smart tonight because from one side you had to play differently, from the other side a little bit different. So I think I managed very well all the moments."

Up next for Halep is fellow compatriot Sorana Cirstea and on that matchup, she said:

"We did [practice] lately a few times, but not very much. It's going to be a big challenge for me. It's just another match. I'm used to playing with Romanians. Of course, it's going to be a tough one. She's a great player."