WTA Finals 2019: Bianca Andreescu Sparks Injury Concerns During Simona Halep Defeat

World No.5 Simona Halep makes a winning start to the Shiseido WTA Finals 2019 Shenzen as she defeats Bianca Andreescu, who took two medical timeouts in her three sets defeat 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in her first round-robin match on Monday.

Set one

The first 10 minutes favored Bianca Andreescu as she easily snatched the first break in the third game and was looking sharp. The Canadian star was controlling most of the points and was also dicatating the pace of the points.

However, Simona Halep tested Andreescu’s attacking skills by her defense and broke back to retrieve well into the match. Bianca Andreescu was relentlessly attacking the Halep second serve as she found a way to break again and take the control over the match. She then served the set 6-3 in 40 minutes.

Set two

Simona Halep started the second set quite confidently as she played one of her best service games. The Romanian then took the momentum to the next game as she broke Andreescu for the first time in the match as the 19-year-old lost concentration.

However, the Canadian bounced back to get the rebreak in the next game. Simona Halep once again got the break as she forced Andreescu to hit three unforced errors. Bianca Andreescu took a medical time out as she whacked her skin with her racquet, and got a small bleeding cut after breaking back Halep, who was bleeding too many errors.

While Andreescu took the medical timeout, Halep received on-court coaching from Cahill, who said to her: “Stay in there mentally and don’t get down on yourself.”

Simona Halep held her nerves while serving to stay in the match as she saved a match point to force the set to the tiebreaker. There was very little to differentiate between the two in the tiebreaker but it was Simona Halep who saved a match point prevailed 8-6 and took the match to the distance.

Andreescu took another medical timeout before the start of the final set to treat her back, which had caused problems for the teenager, earlier this year.

Set three

Andreescu was looking to lose the momentum but she recovered well to break Halep in the third game. However, it was the Romanian, who broke twice and won three consecutive games to get a 4-2 lead.

The US Open champion once again bounced back to break back in the next game to get back on serve before Halep changed gears to break back and served out the match in 2 hours and 30 minutes, winning the final set 6-3.