New victory: Tennis player Simona Halep goes to semifinals of the Sydney International

Newsroom 13/01/2016 | 10:21

After yesterday’s victory against the French Caroline Garcia, the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep won the game against Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova. Svetlana Kuznetsova is up next.

“Halep had beaten Pliskova in tight two-setters in their only two previous meetings, and this one went much the same way. Halep jumped out to leads in both sets but watched on as Pliskova caught up – 5-1 became 5-4 in the first set, 4-2 became 4-all in the second – but the No.1-seeded Romanian closed fast every time, eventually edging the No.5-seeded Czech after an hour and 38 minutes, 6-4, 7-5”, notes wtatennis.com.

The Romanian withdrew from the Brisbane International last week because of an Achilles injury, which also affected her 2015 campaign, and she called the trainer during her second-round match, notes The National. The same source says that “the 24-year-old is one of four leading women players heading to the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on Monday, under an injury cloud. World No 1 Serena Williams (knee), fifth-ranked Maria Sharapova (arm) and number three Garbine Muguruza (foot) all withdrew from matches in the last week.”