Former world No. 1 Simona Halep was glad she was able to start her Madrid campaign on a positive way and set up a second round meeting against world No. 2 Paula Badosa. Halep, who is accompanied by her new coach Patrick Mouratoglou, started her Madrid campaign with a convincing 6-2 6-3 win over Zhang Shuai.
Halep claimed two breaks in the first set and three breaks in the second set to seal a pretty much comfortable straight-set win over Zhang. “I’m really happy that I could win this match,” Halep said after the win, per the WTA website.
“It means a lot. Being in Madrid, I have great memories. So everything went together today and I played a good match. “Every time when you start with someone, it’s tough because you are nervous, you don’t know how it’s going to be.
But I was pretty confident that everything will be okay because I have a great relation with [Mouratoglou]. “I’m honored, because I always thought that he’s great. Now I have the confirmation that he’s great, and he’s helping me a lot with all the things that I have to improve and I have to do on court.”
Halep set to take on Badosa
Halep and Badosa will be going head-to-head for the first time when they meet in the Madrid second round. Badosa rose to a career-high ranking of No. 2 this Monday and she is the home favorite in Madrid.
Badosa, who feels the pressure to do well in front of the Madrid crowd, admitted he expects an extremely difficult match versus Halep. “I think it’s going to be an interesting match, because it’s going to be quite a clay-court match very tactically, and I’m really looking forward to that,” Badosa said, looking ahead to her match with Halep.
“Of course she’s a great champion. So maybe I’m the favorite or no, I will try to give my best, because for sure she will push me to the limits. “I’m really looking forward to these kind of matches, because I really like them and it’s the matches that you work for, you know.”
