Romania's Halep progresses to Australian Open second round

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world number three, on Tuesday advanced to the second round of the women's singles event at the Australian Open tournament, the first Grand Slam of the year, after defeating American Jennifer Brady 7-5 (5) 6-1. Seed number 4 Halep, 28, prevailed in an hour and 36 minutes, dominating the second set after a very balanced first one. Halep, the 2018 Australian Open finalist, only once met 24-year-old Brady, world number 49, in Toronto last year, defeating her 4-6 7-5 7-6 (5) in the second round. Brady started the year impressively, with victories in Brisbane over Russia's Maria Sharapova and Australia's Ashleigh Barty, world number one. She lost in the quarter-finals to Petra Kvitova. Simona Halep has won 128,000 Australian dollars and 70 WTA singles points, and in the second round she will face the winner between Great Britain's Harriet Dart and the Japanese Misaki Doi. AGERPRES (RO - author: Mihai Tenea, editor: Mihai Dragomir; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)