Tennis: Halep eases into Wimbledon fourth round

Reuters , Saturday 2 Jul 2016

Simona Halep
Romania's Simona Halep celebrates winning the first set in her match against Holland's Kiki Bertens 2/7/2016 (Photo: Reuters)

Simona Halep strung together three successive victories at the All England Club for only the second time in her career as she eased into the Wimbledon fourth round with a 6-4 6-3 win over Dutch dangerwoman Kiki Bertens on Saturday.

Bertens had all the credentials to create an upset following her run to the semi-finals of last month's French Open, which included a first-round victory over Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber.

When the Bertens broke the world number five in the first game of a match -- which had originally been scheduled on Court Two on Friday but instead took place under a closed Centre Court roof a day later -- the alarm bells must have started ringing for Halep as she stood at the baseline with her head hanging.

However, the Romanian quickly snapped back into focus to break back in the next game and twice more to bag the set with a crosscourt service return winner.

The 24-year-old jumped into a 3-0 lead in the second set and booked a last-16 date with either Alize Cornet or American ninth seed Madison Keys when Bertens whipped a forehand wide on match point.

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