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Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova took out Sixth Seed at the China Open – Simona Halep in straight sets to complete her first ever Top-10 win. In a match that lasted just over an hour, Alexandrova took out the Romanian in rather dominant fashion 6-2, 6-3.
The two faced off earlier this year at the Western & Southen Open with Halep inching over the line in a three set marathon match. "It was a pretty tough match, I think, but I think she didn't play that well," Alexandrova confessed after the match.
"I remember when we played last time in Cincinnati, it was tougher than today, but I tried to stay focused for the whole match because I knew she could play just amazing. I tried to stay concentrated and focused, and I'm happy I did that until the end." It has been a tough Asian Tour for Halep, who retired against Elena Rybakina in the second round at the Wuhan Open.
"It was a tough one today. I didn't recover well after my first match, so it was very tough for me to play and she played really well," Halep said in defeat. "The injury from Wuhan, it's getting worse, so I have to go home and take an MRI...take a break and do some treatment." Alexandrova will next face the winner of the match between n Aryna Sabalenka and Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.
"I tried to do the best that I can do. I'm not quite used to the balls, so it's not easy, especially on serve, but most of the time I felt pretty good today," Alexandrova added. “I'm just going to do the same as I did today, stay focused and try to do my best."
