Simona Halep moves past Russian Varvara Gracheva despite having acute back pains, requiring medical treatment after first set. It was 6-4, 6-2 for the double Grand Slam winner, but the match was truly difficult for her.
Once again, Simona found a way to overcome a complicate situation, even though, as she confessed after the match, she couldn’t bend and not even move too much. She seemed worried and preoccupied, but still happy that she won.
In the first set the Romanian champion managed to reach a game level that didn’t allow Gracheva to become a threat. She took 81% of the first serve points, and that made her life easier, as the Russian tried to surprise her with an increased aggressiveness. After receiving medical treatment, Simona seemed to feel a little bit more comfortable on court, even though it was obvious that she was struggling with pain. She somehow broke Gracheva’s serve and never looked back afterwards.
Considering this injury, the fact that the second set wasn’t so challenging for her may be a good news. The question remains whether she can recover or not for the quarterfinal against Jaqueline Cristian. This is Simona’s 5th quarterfinal this year, after Gippsland Trophy, Australian Open, Stuttgart and Moscow.
She and Jaqueline have never met in an official match.
