Simona Halep returned to the place where she triumphed twice and scored her first win under Patrick Mouratoglou.
Halep has reached the Mutua
Madrid Open final a tournament-record four
times, winning the title in 2016 and 2017 and finishing as runner-up in
2014 and 2019. Newly under the tutelage of Patrick Mouratoglou, Halep was precise against Zhang on Thursday. She said:
"I'm really happy that I could win this match. It means a lot. Being in Madrid, I have great memories. So everything
went together today and I played a good match."
On working with Mouratoglou she added:
"Every time when you start with someone, it's tough because you are
nervous, you don't know how it's going to be. But I was pretty confident
that everything will be okay because I have a great relation with him. I'm honored, because I always thought that he's great. Now I have
the confirmation that he's great, and he's helping me a lot with all the
things that I have to improve and I have to do on court."