Top seed Halep, Bacsinszky into Shenzhen Open fil

SHENZHEN, Jan 9: Simo Halep of Romania lived up to her No. 1 seeding and defeated Zheng Saisai of Chi 6–2, 6–3 to reach the Shenzhen Open fil on Friday.

Halep will face eighth–seeded Timea Bacsinszky after the Swiss player ousted two–time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6–4, 6–4 in their first meeting.

Halep earned five service breaks against Zheng, the latest Chinese prodigy, who broke into the top 100 three months ago.

Bacsinszky was also impressive on serve, holding nine of her 10 service games, and losing the only one when she was ahead 40–15.

Bacsinszky’s semifil win over No. 4–ranked Kvitova matched her career–best win against Maria Sharapova at Wuhan in September.

Her only career title was almost six years ago. Halep is going for her ninth. IANS