“It’s always tough in the first round” – Simona Halep survives a resilient Nastasja Schunk in her French Open start » FirstSportz
Simona Halep faced rising star Natasja Schunk and, despite a few challenges, was able to win the match in three sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
Halep has played excellent clay tennis this season, but their quality has been inconsistent. She was sometimes excellent and sometimes terrible. The same situation happened in this match, with Halep behind 0:3 at the beginning. It took her some time to find her step, but once she did, she fought her way back in the first set.
also read: “He brought back the fire” – Simona Halep explains how coach Patrick Mouratoglou helped her regain her love for tennis
“To play better in the next round, that’s my goal” – Simona Halep
At 5-4, Halep saved break points and won the match 6-4. The second set was when she started losing her compass. She threw herself into rallies and tried to do too much, which backfired. Schunk won the set 6-1 in 35 minutes, Exploiting 13 bugs from Halep. Halep had to save two break points to start the final set.
Schunk had two total, but she didn’t use either one, and she walked away from there. Simona Halep broke them in the next game to build a 20-point lead that eventually turned into a 3-0 lead. Then she added another break to make it 5-0, after which the young German gave up. Halep won 6-4, 6-1 in a match in which she made 31 errors compared to just 18 winners.
In her interview in court, the Romanian said: “First I want to thank the audience for staying because it’s cold. Thank you, thank you for the nice atmosphere and I am very happy to be back at Roland-Garros. I didn’t play last year so I really missed it and I’m actually happy to win even though it was difficult.”
“She played really well. In the second set she hit the ball hard and I didn’t have an answer but I stayed focused, I stayed strong and I’m really happy that I was able to finish this match. It’s always difficult on the first lap.” added her.
When asked about her goals at the 2022 French Open, Halep concluded: “To play better in the next round. That’s my goal and that’s what I’m focused on. I just want to do my best every time I step onto the pitch and fight like me did today.”
also read: “Very logical” – Daniil Medvedev is still skeptical about missing Wimbledon, says ATP decision to delete ranking points
also read: WATCH: ‘They would have disqualified Djokovic’ Angry Andrey Rublev nearly hits court sweeper, gets away with warning after tantrum on court
https://firstsportz.com/tennis-news-simona-halep-survives-a-resilient-nastasja-schunk-in-her-french-open-opener/ “It’s always tough in the first round” – Simona Halep survives a resilient Nastasja Schunk in her French Open start » FirstSportz
