Simona Halep, the WTA’s No 1 player, saw her first match at the Rogers Cup, the second round confrontation with Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, suspended due to rain. If she qualifies for the third round, the Romanian player will have to go on court and compete after only a few hours of rest.
The match will resume starting 7.30 pm, Romanian time. The winner will face the winner of another delayed match, between Romania’s Sorana Cirstea and Venus Williams.
According to tennis.com, Halep’s early loss at Wimbledon can be put down to the lack of focus she experienced after winning Roland Garros, the first Grand Slam of her career. “Now it’s back to business for the world No. 1, and Halep usually does very good business on North American hard courts—she won this tournament the last time it was held in Montreal, in 2016,” tennis analyst Steve Tignor writes. “But before she can think about repeating that performance, she should probably think about reaching the quarterfinals. To get there, Halep may have to beat Venus Williams. While they haven’t faced each other in three years, the American leads their head to head 3-1,” he adds.
According to Tignor, Halep should emerge as a semifinalist in her quarter of the draw.