Halep moves safely into French Open third round

Paris, May 25 (IANS) World No.6 Simona Halep overcame a slow start to book her place in the third round of the French Open tennis tournament, defeating Zarina Diyas 7-6(5), 6-2 on Wednesday.

Halep won on the Philippe Chatrier court. However, it was far from straightforward for the Romanian and the 2014 finalist, who trailed 4-1 in the opening set against the Kazakhstani.

In the next round, Halep will face Japanese Naomi Osaka after she eased past Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 6-3, 6-3.

Also safely through to the last 32 were Petra Kvitova, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Hsieh Su-Wei, and 2009 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who impressed during a 6-1, 6-3 win over Heather Watson.

--IANS

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