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Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, second favorite, qualified, on Monday, in the round of 16 of the 626,750-dollar WTA Shenzhen Open in China, after winning in three sets against Serbian player Jelena Jankovic, with 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, in her debut in the 2017 season.
Halep, ranked fourth in the world, won after 1 hour and 48 minutes and now has a track record of 7 wins and one loss against Jankovic.
Jelena Jankovic (31 years old, #54 WTA) won the first confrontation, in 2010, in the first round of the US Open, with 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, but was defeated by the Romanian in all following matches: 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3) in the first tour in Brussels in 2012, 4-6, 6-0, 7-5 in the quarterfinals in Rome in 2013, 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 in the round of 16 at the Australian Open in 2014, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the final at Indian Wells in 2015, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round in Toronto in 2015, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals in Cincinatti, also in 2015 and now in Shenzhen.
Simona Halep (24 years old) clearly won the first set, with 6-1, but then lowered the level, and Jankovic showed more determination in the second set, winning the set by 6-3. In the decisive set, Jankovic started with a break, but Halep bounced back and took control of the game. In game six, on the Serbian player's service, she requested the intervention of the medic for a leg injury, when the score was tied at 30. After seven minutes of break, Halep pushed forward to 5-2 in a break and ultimately took the decisive set 6-3, ensuring her presence in the round of 16.
Halep ensured for herself a check worht 7,238 dollars and 30 WTA points, and is set to face off with Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic).
Simona Halep, the winner of the singles' tournament in Shenzhen in 2015, will also play in the doubles' tour, together with Monica Niculescu (the two are fourth favorites).
