BEIJING: World number two Simona Halep beat Maria Sharapova 6-2 6-2 in the China Open third round yesterday for her first win over the Russian in eight attempts.
Defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska was beaten in three sets by Russian Daria Kasatkina.
Halep, beaten by Sharapova in the US Open first round, won five of nine break points and took advantage of an error-prone display to hand the Russian her first straight-sets defeat of the season in an hour and 12 minutes.
Despite hitting more winners than her rival, Sharapova committed 39 unforced errors and struggled to contend with the Halep’s power and aggression in Beijing.
“It was a great match, I think I played my best tennis against her,” Halep said.
Sharapova agreed with Halep’s assessment of the pair’s second meeting in six weeks after not playing the Romanian for almost two years.
“I think she played an incredible match, probably the best she’s played against me in all of our previous meetings,” she said. “I wasn’t as sharp. I wasn’t seeing the ball as well. I wasn’t moving up and down as well as I have been against her.”
The Romanian goes through to the quarter-finals where she will face Kasatkina, who started slowly but grew in confidence to see off Radwanska 4-6 7-5 6-2.
Kasatkina hit 42 winners to Radwanska’s 33 in a match that could have gone either way as both players racked up more than 40 unforced errors apiece.
French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia qualified for the season-ending WTA Finals in Singapore with a 6-3 7-5 win over Australia’s Samantha Stosur in round two.
She next faces on China’s Peng Shuai, who made short work of Romanian Monica Niculescu with a 6-3 6-2 win.
Wuhan Open champion Caroline Garcia of France overcame Belgian Elise Mertens 7-6(4) 6-4, while Ukrainian Elina Svitolina beat Australia’s Ashleigh Barty 6-4 6-2 in the second round to set up a clash with Russia’s Elena Vesnina.
In the men’ section, Grigor Dimitrov powered past U.S. Open semi-finalist Juan Martin del Potro 7-6(6) 7-5 to book his spot in the quarter-finals.
Earlier, Nick Kyrgios came from a set down to beat Mischa Zverev 3-6 6-2 6-2. The Australian unleashed 11 aces in the match. Up next for Kyrgios is Steve Darcis of Belgium, who overcame Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-4.
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