Romanian tennis player and current WTA No 1 Simona Halep has qualified for the third round of the BNP Paribas Open with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Czech player Kristyna Pliskova.
Halep looked sharp in her straight sets victory over the world No. 77 but is still looking to recover the form that saw her power to the final of the Australian Open in January.
“I think I played good tennis, even if the previous days I didn’t feel the ball that well,” Halep told journalists after the match, quoted by wtatennis.com. “But today was great that I could actually play a few rallies. I got the rhythm back, and I feel good now. I feel more confident.”
“It was important to win this match,” Halep said. “I come back from an injury, tough injury, and I didn’t have pain. I feel good. I feel happy about that, that I won this match, which is not easy to play against Pliskova sisters. It’s always a big win for me,” she added.
In the third round she will face American wild card Caroline Dolehide, who dismantled the tournament’s No. 33 seed Dominika Cibulkova in three sets. “I will play my game. I will be relaxed. I will enjoy the moment, and I will try to be aggressive like I did today and like I did in Melbourne,” Halep said.
The BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells is the year’s first WTA Premier Mandatory event.