World No. 2 Simona Halep on Wednesday won on her return to competitive action since losing the Australian Open final, beating Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets at the Qatar Open.
Halep eased through 6-3, 6-0 against the Russian in a second-round match — she received a first-round bye — but admitted afterward she was still anxious about an ankle injury which has stopped her from playing since Melbourne.
Also winning convincingly was the woman who defeated Halep in Melbourne, Caroline Wozniacki, who blitzed Germany’s Carina Witthoeft, 6-2, 6-0 in just 57 minutes.
Photo: AFP
However, it was Halep’s ankle which was receiving most attention afterward.
The Romanian said she would assess the injury match by match and admitted she would take the “best decision” for her health if the ankle worsened.
“Ankle is OK. The foot is still painful,” she said.
Halep was due to face Latvian Anastasija Sevastova yesterday and asked if she would definitely play, she responded: “For sure, yeah, and I will try to finish the match.”
“I started already to talk too much about this injury, it’s just a problem with my foot,” she said. “The doctor said that nothing can happen like worse to break something, but still when I will feel stronger pain, I think I will just think — I will double think about it and I will take the best decision.”
The injury also forced her out of Romania’s Fed Cup tie with Canada last weekend.
Halep raced to a 5-1 lead in her first set, before Makarova, the world No. 36, showed some defiance by breaking the Romanian’s serve and threatening a comeback.
Halep, who hit 13 winners, then rallied and stormed through the second set without losing a game.
The Romanian has the possibility of reclaiming the top ranking from Wozniacki this week if she reaches at least the quarter-finals and goes one round further than the Dane, but Wozniacki carried on the great form which saw her lift her first Grand Slam title last month, not giving Witthoeft a chance while hitting 18 winners.
“I felt very comfortable out there today and the court suited me well. So I was pleased with the win,” Wozniacki said.
Wozniacki also has her own reasons for doing well in Doha.
If she gets to the semi-final, she will become just the fourth player in history to pass US$30 million in prize money.
The high-quality field in the Gulf features nine of the top 10 players in the world and several just outside.
With few shocks so far, the remaining few days in Doha could witness some heavyweight contests.
Also through to the third round are world No. 11 Johanna Konta of Britain and a resurgent Petra Kvitova.
Konta won 6-2, 6-2 against a former Qatar Open winner, Carla Suarez Navarro, while Kvitova battled back from a set down to beat Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-4.
“I have no idea, first of all, how I turned it around. I felt pretty exhausted,” the double Wimbledon champion said.
Defending champion Karolina Pliskova beat France’s Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-3.
Angelique Kerber also progressed, while in one of the few shocks so far Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu beat Latvian sixth seed Jelena Ostapenko 6-1, 6-3.
In the second round of the doubles, second seeds Latisha Chan of Taiwan and Andrea Sestini Hlavackova fell to a shock 6-1, 6-3 defeat to Japanese duo Miyu Kato and Makoto Ninomiya, while in the first round fifth seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Peng Shuai of China crashed out after a 0-6, 6-3, 10-8 loss to Monique Adamczak of Australia and Lyudmyla Kichenok of Ukraine.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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