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Halep, Murray Adance to Second Week in Paris

Jun 3rd 2017

Mother nature put her stamp on play for the first time during the French Open as several matches were pushed back to Sunday due to rain. However, Andy Murray and Simona Halep fought through to the second week in Paris before play was suspended.

The world no.1 won a competitive opening set against Juan Martin Del Potro and swept through the remainder of the match to advance 7-6, 7-5, 6-0. Murray exhibited some toughness that hasn’t been seen much in 2017, overcoming four set points in the first set and strong play by the Argentine to win the opener.

Andy Murray

The two battled early in the second set before the Scot took control late in the set. After he gained momentum, it appeared Del Potro had worn down as he had little resistance in the third set. It was clearly the best performance on clay this season for Murray.

Del Potro reflected afterward, I couldn’t believe that set, that I lost that set, because I had many opportunities to win. I have been playing great, great points during whole, the first set.”

The two have had some classic battles in the past and Murray knew he had to be solid to advance.  “To be playing him this early on in the slam is not easy, but it can be a very positive thing,” he said. “You play someone that good, maybe you’re a little bit more switched on. Your focus is maybe a little bit higher.”

Meanwhile, Simona Halep got her match in prior to the rain and advanced with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Daria Kasatkina.

Simona Halep

After blitzing the Russian in the first set, Halep found herself in a battle in the second set as she stared at a 3-5 deficit. But she fought back and gained a late advantage to seal the match. It was a clean performance by the Romanian who had 25 winners to just 13 unforced errors.

” It was a good match. I think I played really well the whole match, even if she has the 5-3 in the second set,” Halep said. “I felt that I was pushing her back, and also I was rolling the ball pretty well. I think it was a very high standard of tennis today. Also, she played really well. I mean, she's a very tough opponent when I play her always. It's difficult even if I won the first set 6-0, I knew it's gonna be tougher, the second one. I'm really happy with the way I played today.”

Halep will face Carlo Suarez Navarro in the next round with a berth in the quarterfinals at stake.