Wimbledon champion Simona Halep was stunned by Ekaterina Alexandrova in the second round of the China Open 2019 as the Russian defeated the no.6 seed in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in just over an hour on Monday.

Set One

Ekaterina Alexandrova was all over Simona Halep in the first set of the match. The Russian squandered one breakpoint before breaking Halep’s opening service game of the set. Simona Halep earned a chance to break back Alexandrova but she failed to grab three breakpoint opportunities in the third game of the set.

The two players then exchanged breaks in the fifth and the sixth game of the opener. While serving to stay in the set at 2-5, Simona Halep was broken for the third time in the match as the unseeded Alexandrova won the set 6-2 in 32 minutes.

Set two

The second was a replica of the opening set as Halep was broken at love in her first service game of the set. However, Halep fought hard to break Ekaterina in the next game to get back on serve. The 28-year-old Romanian also took a medical timeout early in the set to massage her left hip.

While Alexandrova’s level did not fall as she broke Simona Halep for the fifth time in the match to get a lead of 3-1 in the second set. The Romanian was still not ready to take the defeat as she got back on serve after breaking Ekaterina’s serve at 3-4.

However, she couldn’t hold her serve in the next game as the Russian broke her to serve for the match. Ekaterina Alexndrova served out the match 6-2, 6-3 in just 1 hour and 5 minutes to reach the third round of the Beijing Open 2019.

Alexandrova will meet the winner between Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.