Wimbledon 2019: Simona Halep battles into third round with win over Mihaela Buzarnescu
- Published
Watch the best shots as Simona Halep beats her compatriot Mihaela Buzarnescu
Wimbledon 2019 on the BBC |
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Venue: All England Club Dates: 1-14 July |
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, radio and online with extensive coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. Full details |
Seventh seed Simona Halep survived a scare to beat fellow Romanian Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 4-6 6-2 and book a spot in the third round at Wimbledon.
The former world one dominated early on but her form dropped dramatically in the second set as world number 53 Buzarnescu broke serve in the ninth game en route to levelling the match.
They broke each other in the third before Halep broke twice more to win.
The 27-year-old will next play two-time semi-finalist Victoria Azarenka.
Wimbledon 2019: Mood, hats & a great catch - day three funnies
The Belarus player defeated Ajla Tomljanovic 6-2 6-0, earlier on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, Eastbourne champion and third seed Karolina Pliskova, who has yet to venture beyond the fourth round, saw off Puerto Rico's Monica Puig 6-0 6-4 to reach round three.
But there were two late upsets when American 17th seed Madison Keys lost 6-2 6-4 to Slovenian world number 60 Polona Hercog and Latvian 12th seed Anastasija Sevastova was beaten 4-6 6-4 6-3 by American world number 34 Danielle Collins.
Svitolina survives after Gasparyan injury
Russian Margarita Gasparyan's hopes of claiming the scalp of seeded Elina Svitolina came to an abrupt end when she landed awkwardly after serving.
The world number 62 was a set up and had outplayed the Ukrainian before the incident at 5-5 in the second set that resulted in the tearful player retiring with the score 5-7 6-5.
Margarita Gasparyan was injured during the 11th game of the second set
Eighth seed Svitolina will now play Maria Sakkari in the third round.
Gasparyan - a rising star before her career was halted by a knee injury - had dominated her opponent for much of the match, hitting 42 winners compared to Svitolina's 15.
Having won the first set, the Russian had chances to break the Ukrainian in the 10th game of the next set before the unfortunate incident in the following game.
Gasparyan at first appeared to have cramp as she lay down on the court in pain and in tears. She received treatment and continued to serve but winced as she bent down to meet Svitolina's low returns and was eventually broken.
The Russian signalled that she could not continue upon receiving more medical attention and left court three in tears and to a standing ovation.
Watch the best five shots from Karolina Pliskova's first-round win over Monica Puig