BNP Paribas Open: Simona Halep making another deep run after win in matchup of Romanians
It was a battle for the first spot in the quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open, but the match between Simona Halep and Sorana Cirstea also was quite a battle for Romania.
With a 6-1, 6-4 victory on Stadium Court at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, Halep, a past champion of the BNP Paribas Open, will remain the top-ranked woman player from Romania, a position she has held since Aug. 26, 2013, a stretch of 447 weeks.
A former No. 1 player in the world, Halep entered the Indian Wells event ranked 26th in the WTA rankings, just one spot ahead of Cirstea. It was Cirstea who was the last Romanian to be ranked higher than Halep, but that was before the bulk of Halep’s career, which features 23 WTA titles, including two Grand Slam titles.
Tuesday’s winner was guaranteed to be ranked higher in next Monday’s new rankings, and Halep made sure that would be her. Halep broke Cirstea’s serve in the first game of the match and cruised to a 6-1 win in the set in just 32 minutes.
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“Everybody has a little bit of stress when it's playing against a person that is from the same country,” Halep said. “But I can say I'm used to it. I've played so many times with all the Romanians. But with her I didn't play in the last 12 years, so it was something new. I didn't know actually what to expect. We practiced a few times only during the year, so it was really something new. But I feel like I played perfect in the first set. I knew what I have to do.”
Cirstea showed more fight in the second set, breaking Halep to open the set on the way to a 2-0 lead. But Halep won six of the next eight games, including another break of Cirstea’s serve in the final game.
Same country, but few matches
Strangely, it was just the fourth time the two Romanian players have faced each other on the WTA circuit, with the 31-year-old Cirstea winning two of the previous matchups against the 30-year-old Halep. But the last of those matches was 12 years ago.
For Halep, a quarterfinals run at Indian Wells is nothing new. She won the BNP Paribas Open title in 2015, though she lost in the round of 32 in last October’s rescheduled BNP Paribas event. The Indian Wells tournament is a place Halep says feels like home, in part because there were at least five Romanian flags among the crowd.
“I always feel such a big support everywhere in the world I play, but here, yeah, it's pretty special because many Romanians are coming,” Halep said. “I have great memories at this tournament. I feel great when I come here. So it's only a pleasure to be on court. So I'm super happy that I can play one more match.”
Halep has played well in 2022, reaching the round of 16 in the Australian Open and also winning the Melbourne Summer Series 1 in Australia. Now she has a chance to reach the semifinals at Indian Wells when she faces unseeded Petra Martic in the quarterfinals. Martic beat No. 28 Liumila Samsonava on Tuesday 7-6, 6-4.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open; In battle for top Romanian player, Simona Halep handles Sorana Cirstea
