The first two matches on Monday at Roland Garros were very quick affairs, as world No.1 Simona Halep spent only 59 minutes to erase Elise Mertens from the draw with a 6-2 6-1 victory in the fourth round, while Daria Kasatkina needed just three games to complete her Sunday’s fourth-round match against Caroline Wozniacki and reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal.
In the morning on Court Philippe Chatrier, top seed Simona Halep recorded her first break of serve when Elise Mertens hit three double faults in her second service game of the match and the Romanian was surprisingly unchallenged by her 16th-seeded Belgian opponent who earned her first break of the match after trailing 0-5 in the second set.
Seed No.14 Daria Kasatkina was leading second seed Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(5) 3-3 when their match was suspended due to darkness on Sunday night. On early Monday afternoon, the Russian stayed aggressive and allowed the Dane no games upon resumption, winning the encounter 7-6(5) 6-3 in just under two hours. Despite today’s loss and her 0-3 head-to-head against Kasatkina, Wozniacki is not unsatisfied with her performance in this fourth-round match, rather, she praised her opponent’s preciseness and courageous shots that were very close to the lines.
So happy for Halep, but extremely disappointed that my girl Serena had to withdraw due to a pectoral injury, although I’m not surprised. I always said she was pushing it, when I saw she was playing doubles and singles, considering her life-threatening recent birth of her precious baby. She was grinding pretty hard out there on that clay, getting better & better, and getting injured during play was my fear all along. My girl may need to sit out for Wimbledon, which is right around the corner. For now, my wish is for Simona Halep to finally win a major; therefore, I’m rooting for her. She’s been grinding for a very long time, just unable to bring it all together in semifinals and finals. I mean, Halep gets practically every ball back and never stops trying to get any ball back. Love you Kerber baby, Sloane Stephens, & Garbine,, but it’s Halep’s turn to shine. “Get well, Serena. You’re still the GOAT, no matter what. If you’d remained healthy, you were going to steamroll Sharapova for sure. I guess the next girl in line will have to do so. Take as much time as needed to get back to 100%. I’m praying for your full recovery. Much love & respect for you, Madame Williams O.”
Love Kerber, don’t love Muguruza… but “Mugs” has all my support in her next match :))). However, I do agree, It should be Simona Halep’s turn to win a GS.