Tennis: Simona Halep, winner in first round of Beijing tournament

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, ranked second worldwide, has surpassed Barbora Zahlarova-Strycova (the Czech Republic) in two sets, 6-1, 6-4, in the inaugural round of the 5,427,105-dollar WTA tournament in Beijing.

The match lasted for one hour and 27 minutes. Simona Halep, who has celebrated her 23rd birthday on Saturday, had lost the only previous match with Zahlarova-Strycova (28 years old, #32 WTA), in 2010, when the Czech player won by 6-1, 6-4 in the WTA Paris tournament qualifiers.

Halep will play the second round against the winner of the match between Chinese player Lin Zhu and Russian player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Also on Sunday, Monica Niculescu, coming from the qualifiers, has lost the inaugural round of the Beijing tournament against German Player Andrea Petkovic (seeded fifteenth), by 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4. AGERPRES