No.15 seed Simona Halep eased her way into the quarterfinals at the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for the sixth time in her career, fending off World No.21 Jil Teichmann 6-2, 7-5 in an hour and a half. Here are three takeaways from the former World No.1's victory:
Halep thrives at this level, and in Canada: WTA 1000 events have become Halep’s happy place after nearly a decade at the top of the game. She has more match-wins at WTA 1000 events than any other player, with 182 after Thursday’s win (Victoria Azarenka’s 177 and Caroline Wozniacki’s 176 are next on the list).
And out of all of the WTA 1000 events on tour, the National Bank Open is one of Halep’s best. She won the event in 2016 and 2018, making it one of the five events Halep has won two times in her career.
However, both of Halep’s Canadian titles have come in Montreal; her career-best result in Toronto was a runner-up finish to Belinda Bencic in 2015. Halep would surely like to complete a trifecta of titles by triumphing for the first time in the province of Ontario.
Supreme Simona 🤙
— wta (@WTA) August 11, 2022
🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep advances into her 39th quarterfinal at WTA 1000 level!
Faces No.10 seed Gauff for a place in the semis!#NBO22 pic.twitter.com/iJobARhbJ2
Experience key in windy conditions: Teichmann has proven her bona fides on the North American summer hardcourt swing over the last two years, reaching the final at 2020 Lexington and making her first WTA 1000 final last year in Cincinnati.
But on a blustery day in Toronto, Halep’s lengthier experience at this level paid dividends in the tricky conditions. In the first set, Halep expanded her margins for error and gave Teichmann few opportunities to attack.
Self-described perfectionist Halep stayed focused and overcame inevitable patches of errors generated by the wind, and she leaned on her stellar defense and rally tolerance when Teichmann tightened affairs in the second set.
Teichmann mixed things up with increasing forays to the net as the match progressed. But Halep stayed sturdy and was never broken in the close second set, and she was rewarded with her 35th match-win of the season, trailing only Iga Swiatek (47) and Ons Jabeur (37).
Gauff awaits: Halep’s road will not get any easier when she takes on No.10 seed Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. Gauff is putting together a career-best season, and she has shown a champion’s mettle this week by beating Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka in third-set tiebreaks in her last two matches.
However, Halep can comfort herself with the fact that she is 3-0 against Gauff, with a straight-sets win on each surface. Halep beat Gauff en route to her 2019 Wimbledon title (which was Gauff’s career breakthrough event), and she has picked up two more wins this year, on the hard courts of Indian Wells and the clay of Madrid.