CHINA TOPIX

03/29/2024 02:11:34 am

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Wuhan Open: Garbine Muguruza Takes down Simona Halep in a Day of Upsets

Garbine Muguruza of Spain took down second seeded Simona Halep at the Wuhan Open in China

(Photo : impactocna.com)

Garbine Muguruza of Spain took down second seeded Simona Halep in a day of upsets at the first edition of the Wuhan Open in China on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Muguruza dropped the first set to the Romanian but quickly turned things around in the second set as the Spaniard broke the French Open finalist twice and another one in the third set to win the match 2-6 6-2 6-3.

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This is the first encounter between the two with the 22-year-old Halep competing for the first time after third round loss to Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the U.S. Open.

Muguruza's greatest achievement this year was at the French Open where she defeated World No. 1 Serena Williams in the second round but lost to eventual winner Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

World No. 22 Muguruza will now face another 20-year-old, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, who won over Germany's Sabine Lisicki 7(7)-6(3) 6-3 also on Tuesday.

American Alison Riske downed 11th seed Sara Errani in straight sets 6-4 6-4 to advance into the third round of the competition and now awaits the winner of the Mona Barthel and Eugenie Bouchard matchup.

Another upset came in the form of Swiss qualifier Timea Bacsinszky who defeated 13th seed Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-4 6-1.

Bacsinszky,25, has only won one WTA event and that was way back in 2009 at the Luxembourg Open where she won the title against Lisicki.

The 26-year-old Russian on the other hand had a stellar performance at the recently concluded U.S. Open where she went on to the semifinals after defeating Bouchard and Victoria Azarenka but lost to eventual champion Williams.

Makarova then played in the doubles competition along with fellow compatriot Elina Vesnina and won the title against the tag team of Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta.

Bacsinszky will now face fourth seed Sharapova in the third round.

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