Two-time Madrid Open champion Halep bagels Zheng en route to R3

Simona Halep played her best match yet at the Madrid Open against Zheng to move on to R3.

Halep was locked in from the start playing extremely well early on. Zheng was slow to get into the match and by the time she started playing any sort of tennis, Halep was already en route to clinch the first set. Ultimately she was able to do so by delivering a bagel to Zheng 6-0.

The 2nd set was much more competitive despite Halep taking an early 3-0 lead. At that moment it seemed like she would gift Zheng another bagel but the Chinese player was able to pull the break back. Halep was not going to be denied so she broke Zheng once more to take a 5-2 lead. In the next game, she would have her first MP but Zheng was able to save it.

She then went on to break Halep when the Romanian player served for the match. It's was a similar lapse in focus, as in the previous round, about which she spoke at the post-match press conference. At 5-4, Zheng needed to confirm the break by winning her own serve which is something she failed to do a couple of games earlier.

Once again she struggled to do it effortlessly giving Halep her 2nd match point. This time around the Romanian player was more focused and she used it immediately to close it out with 6-4. Halep survives yet another late lapse in focus which could doom her in later stages of the event but for now, she moves at the Madrid Open.