Transylvania Open: Simona Halep beat Varvara Grachev: No.1 seed Simona Halep enjoyed a superb homecoming at the Transylvania Open, besting Romanian compatriot Elena-Gabriela Ruse 6-1, 6-2 in 73 minutes in the first round. She followed Anett Kontaveit’s own straight-sets opener after the No.2 seed extended her indoor winning streak to 11, defeating qualifier Aleksandra Krunic 6-3, 7-5.
Transylvania Open: Simona Halep beat Varvara Grachev: Halep has now won all 14 of her encounters with fellow Romanians in WTA main draws. Indeed, her record against her countrywomen at all professional levels is a dominant 31-4. Three of the losses occurred on the ITF World Tour between 2006-09, and the fourth was a defeat by Sorana Cirstea in 2010 Cincinnati qualifying.
Against Ruse, the 30-year-old was up against one of the new generation of Romanians who have been inspired by her achievements. Ruse captured her first WTA title in Hamburg this July, backed it up with a run to the Palermo final the same month, and cracked the Top 100 in August.
🔝 stuff from the 🔝 seed
🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep sets up an all-Romanian quarterfinal against Cristian in Cluj 🔥#TransylvaniaOpen pic.twitter.com/CTo1bYFpjG
— wta (@WTA) October 28, 2021
Transylvania Open: Simona Halep beat Varvara Grachev:The start of the match promised a tightly contested clash. Halep needed to survive four deuces and one break point to hold her opening service game as Ruse unleashed her powerful groundstrokes. But after coming through that tussle, the former World No.1 soared as Ruse fell away.
Errors, and six double faults in total, came all too often for World No.85 Ruse. The second set also reached its peak with one extended deuce game as the 23-year-old, trailing 2-4, fought to stave off the double break. She could not. Halep came up with two phenomenal passing shots in that game alone, the second of which sealed the break and essentially the match.
Up next for Halep is Varvara Gracheva.
